The Telling Told
by MelodyAnne
Summary: Post The Telling, Sydney comes back to find out Vaughn is married...She finds out she's been pregnant...How will Sydney and Vaughn complete THIS mission?...[COMPLETED]
1. What Now?

What Now?  
  
This is my first attempt, don't be too hard on it!   
  
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"That's impossible!" Sydney cries.  
  
"I wish it were," Vaughn replies softly, avoiding her eyes.   
  
There is a long pause.   
  
"So where have I been all this time? What happened?" Sydney asks imploringly.  
  
"I…We don't know," Vaughn says nervously. "We thought you were dead!" he repeats emphatically.   
  
"So you thought I was dead. Then what?" Sydney asks, her voice trembling. She is afraid of what the answer might be, but she has to know. It is like a game, she thinks, it can't be real.  
  
"You were gone." Vaughn looks up. "I came to look for you when you didn't answer your phone. There was blood everywhere, and 'Francie' was dead. The CIA followed up every possible lead, and I…some of us felt like we had to believe you were alive. Your father became obsessed with finding you. I guess he had to believe you were alive, otherwise…"   
  
"What about you?" Sydney asks, her voice low but forceful.   
  
"Huh?"  
  
"What about you? You've talked about my father, other agents, everybody but you!" Sydney glances meaningfully at the ring while her voice rises in pitch.  
  
"Syd, I loved you, I…"Vaughn pleads.  
  
"Loved?" Sydney squeaks, hurt evident in her voice.  
  
"Syd…" Vaughn drops his eyes, unable to think of anything to say. Nothing would help now anyway, he thinks.  
  
"Let's just go." Sydney stands up quickly and glares at Vaughn until he stands and leads her out.  
  
Both of them remain silent, Sydney trying not to cry and Vaughn trying to think of something to say, until after they are on the CIA jet. Then Sydney moves from her seat at the back of the plane to the front to talk to Vaughn.  
  
"Please," she starts, taking a shaky breath as she sits next to Vaughn. "I want to know. Everything." She looks down at the ring again. "I won't interrupt."  
  
Vaughn takes a breath just as shaky as Sydney's.  
  
"I guess I owe it to you to explain this," he says, gesturing at the gold band on his left ring finger.   
  
Sydney sucks in a breath and becomes tense, but otherwise remains silent.   
  
Vaughn avoids her eyes, expecting them to be cold and hard. When he looks up, her eyes are anything but hard; they are warm and loving, confused and hurt. She seems to be begging him to tell her that this is not real, that it is a bad dream. And he wants so much to do just that.  
  
Sydney sits still and silent, waiting for him to begin. When he looks up, his eyes are sad and small. She realizes she has seen him look like this before: back when they were both afraid to start any relationship, afraid to touch the forbidden fruit.  
  
"I'm married," he begins simply in a small voice.  
  
Sydney starts to speak, but decides against it.   
  
"You don't know her."   
  
They are quiet for a moment as they marvel at how they had been able to finish the others thoughts.  
  
"We met at the agency. They assigned me a new partner after you disappeared, Amanda. She reminded me of you at first, and I guess I resented it. But Syd," he sobs helplessly, "it hurt so much, I just wanted to forget! Syd, I'm sorry!" Vaughn lowers his face to his hands. "I'm so damn weak, I know! I'm sorry!" he mumbles.  
  
Sydney stands quietly and walks to the back of the huge, empty plane. That's how I feel, she thinks. Empty.   
  
Vaughn hears her leave, but thinks it is better to let her go. He can't handle the conversation any more than she can now.   
  
Sydney sits in the back, sobbing hard and silent. Vaughn's married, she thinks. I don't know where I've been for two years. My life was so good. Everything was starting to go my way. I was, I am, in love. It's all because of Sloane! He sent Allison into my house! He killed Francie! He had something to do with this! He must have!!  
  
A sudden question occurs to her. She tries to compose herself enough to go talk to Vaughn, but she suddenly feels his hand on her back. She gasps and looks up quickly, shocked into getting a hold of herself. He sits down next to her, still resting his hand on her shoulder.  
  
"Vaughn," she says shakily, "Is my dad okay?"  
  
Vaughn looks down quickly and pulls away his hand.  
  
"Where is he?!?" Syd asked, now panicked.  
  
Vaughn looks up slowly.  
  
"Sydney, he disappeared with Sloane almost a year ago. No one's heard from him since, except for a note saying he went willingly."  
  
TBC  
  
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Please review and tell me this any good at all!   
  
Reviews make me type faster!  
  
I know there is a lot of sort of boring stuff in this, but after chapter 3 it becomes more of an action story, so bear with me! 


	2. The Explanation

The Explanation  
  
Disclaimer: If I owned Alias, this story would not be necessary!   
  
OK, this is chapter 2 of my first Alias fic, and I've seen a lot of really BAD post 'The Telling' fics out there, so if mine is really bad let me know, I won't mind. I don't want to torture people by writing bad stuff!  
  
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"No!" Sydney says, but it comes out as a hoarse whisper. He was all I had left, she thinks. To find out he's with Sloane…maybe I can't handle this. Maybe I'd have been better off in Hong Kong, remembering nothing…  
  
With this thought she loses all control. She turns away from Vaughn and begins to sob harder than before. Vaughn puts his hands on her shoulders and she turns willingly to cry on his shoulder.   
  
Vaughn feels guilty for two things. First, he feels terrible about what he's doing to Sydney. No matter what he says, he still loves her. But he feels that he has to be loyal to Amanda…  
  
FLASHBACK  
  
"Hi. I'm Amanda Lawrence. You must be Agent Vaughn." She smiles a huge, slightly nervous smile. He thinks of Sydney.  
  
"That's me. Nice to meet you," he says gruffly, quickly shaking her outstretched hand.  
  
Her smile fades into confusion. He feels bad about making such an impression, sure she's wondering what she did. But she's too much like Syd. Her hair is slightly longer and darker, but from a distance she could easily be mistaken for her. She has light brown eyes that are pretty, even though they don't shine like Syd's. She is a few inches shorter than Syd, he notes, thinking how she'll always fall short.   
  
He'd asked her out about a month later. He didn't know why; he hadn't enjoyed it, though she didn't know that. They'd only been dating for four months when they became engaged. He'd been planning on asking Syd that night in Santa Barbara. He only saw Syd when he looked at Amanda, especially at night. He'd even almost called Amanda by her name once…  
  
END FLASHBACK  
  
Vaughn gives up for the moment and just holds Syd close, giving her the comfort she so desperately needs.  
  
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"Syd, wake up," she hears as someone shakes her gently, lovingly she thinks at first.   
  
"Huh?" Sydney sits up and opens her eyes to find Vaughn standing over her with a soft smile on his lips. "Oh!"  
  
"Syd," Vaughn says, using the nickname, "I hated to wake you, but we're about an hour out of LA, and I should explain as much of this as I can." The smile is gone.   
  
Sydney's former look of hope falls. It was all real. "Okay," she says resignedly.   
  
Vaughn sits down next to her. He seems more comfortable; he doesn't make a point of sitting as far from her as he can.   
  
"If you have any questions, just ask." He pauses, thinking how to begin. "I found your house first. When you didn't answer your cell, I got worried. I knocked, but no one answered. I found Will first; he was barely alive. I called 911 and kept looking for you. When I saw Allison, it was plain she was dead. I knew you must have been there, but I couldn't find you." He pauses a moment to regain his composure before he continues. "I called your dad. I knew he'd find some way to fire me it I didn't. We were both there when a call came, two days later, from the forensics team. Jack answered the phone, but when he just stood there with a blank look on his face I took the phone. Syd, they told me that your blood was there, lots of it. They said you were dead. To be honest, I think Sloane told him he could find you alive."  
  
"What about my mother?"  
  
"As far as the CIA was concerned, all three of them dropped off the face of the earth after you disappeared. But all along Sloane must have been contacting Jack. It's possible your mother was in on that, but I doubt it. There've been times when I think back and could swear I saw her somewhere. I think she started following me."  
  
Sydney allows a sob to escape. "And Will? What about him?"  
  
"He was in the hospital for over two months, but he's fully recovered now. Afterward, when he first woke up, he swore he saw Allison crying after she stabbed him."   
  
"How did my dad treat you?" Sydney hopes he'll say something to give her some hint that he still cares about her, but she can't seem to get anything.  
  
"I expected he'd treat me like it was somehow all my fault, or at least hate me forever after seeing that tape. I'll never forget how he looked at me when he left that room."  
  
"Oh, God…" Sydney moans, recalling that tape. The night had been a wonderful memory, until they saw the tape. Seeing it was so different from living it. She studies him closely, and he looks lost in his own thoughts. She wonders if he, too, is remembering that night fondly. He wears the lopsided grin she had loved so much…but then he seems to remember where he is.  
  
"Vaughn," she says softly, "I know you're married, and you don't have to answer this, but…did you miss me? Even when you where with Amanda?"  
  
He starts to deny it, but she looks as if her emotional well being depends on his answer. "Syd…" He looks at her again. "Yes," he says decidedly.   
  
Sydney opens her mouth to speak, but can't think of anything to say. Instead, she leans over and hugs him. He puts his arms loosely around her. She releases him when realizes this.   
  
"I'm sorry," she says. "I can't handle this." She stares at the floor unable to meet his gaze.   
  
Vaughn puts a hand under her chin and lifts her head so she looks at him. She notes the sadness and confusion and regrets betrayed by those wonderful green eyes…  
  
Sydney pulls away. "You're married!" she cries, wondering at the same time why she throws this in his face. "You've moved on! You! Don't! Need! Me!" she screams, but it hurts like a knife being stabbed and twisted in her heart.   
  
She moves past him to keep him from seeing the tears pouring down her cheeks. She ducks into another seat just in time to stifle a sob.   
  
TBC  
  
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Okay, what do you think? If I'm overdoing the dramatics, let me know. I promise there'll be stuff besides S/V arguments in the next chapter, which will be up soon since it's already written, I just have to type it! I appreciate any feed back at all, good or bad! Seriously, if you hate it, tell me what's wrong. 


	3. More Tears

More Tears  
  
Disclaimer: If I owned Alias, I wouldn't have to be able to define 'adjective'.  
  
Okay, chapter 3! Look, I know this is really over dramatic, but I have to get it out of the way. If I have any loyal readers left after this chapter, it gets much better! But I might refer to something in a later chapter from one of the first three, and then where would you be if you didn't read them? ____________________________________________________________________________________________  
  
Vaughn sits staring at the place where Sydney had been sitting only moments before. Throwing all caution to the wind, he runs to comfort Sydney. He knows he's destroying the life he built as all the old feelings come flooding back.  
  
Sydney curls up in the seat, hugging her knees to her chest with her head down. She feels the sobs that she can no longer control tear through her body. She doesn't hear when Vaughn moves up behind her.   
  
I've never seen her look more pitiful, he thinks. But then he adds, I wonder if anyone had. She's always so strong.  
  
His vision blurs, and he blinks hard to keep the tears in check. I did this, he thinks. He joins her on the seat and starts to pull her to him.   
  
"No!" she sobs hysterically, jerking away. "You've moved on! You're MARRIED!" She wonders again why she has to remind him.   
  
"Syd," Vaughn begins softly after a moment, "I know this is hard on you. But you won't stop to think how hard this is on me!" Desperation creeps into his voice.   
  
She ignores him. Both sit still and silent and not touching, as Sydney quiets herself.  
  
"Michael," she starts cautiously, unknowingly using his first name, " How many people know where I am? That I'm alive and coming… back?" She can't bring herself to say home, knowing how things have changed.  
  
Vaughn cringes at his name. "As of now, only four. Myself, Kendall, Weiss, and Will." He feels as though Sydney has just punched him in the gut, hard. She has always called him Vaughn, never Michael. It is as if she is trying to see him as a different man, not the one she loved. She doesn't want to help destroy his life again.   
  
"What are you going to do?" Vaughn asks emotionlessly.   
  
"What do you mean?" Sydney asks just as tonelessly.   
  
"Where will you go? What will you do? Will you still be an agent if Kendall allows it?"  
  
"I don't know." Sydney pauses, then realizes, "I don't know how to do anything else."  
  
They sit in silence for several minutes. An uncomfortable silence, as that of two strangers.   
  
Finally, Vaughn says, "You'll be taken directly to CIA headquarters. They'll want to debrief you, and you'll undergo a psychological analysis. Possibly regression, too. Then you'll have to find someplace to stay. Of course it can't be in any hotel, in case Sloane or someone is watching you."  
  
"I don't remember ever not being an agent on active field duty. I know I can't stay in any hotel," Sydney snaps, then instantly regrets it.   
  
As the airport comes into view, Vaughn decides to risk angering her again. He does not know how long it will be before he sees her again.   
  
"Syd," he begins with an unmasked earnestness in his voice, just as the plane touches down, "Every time I see her I think of you."  
  
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This is not good, Irina thinks. It is too soon.  
  
Irina sits in a room full of TV and computer monitors. She has just seen Sydney on a security camera at the LA airport.   
  
I have underestimated her will, she thinks with a sad smile.  
  
TBC  
  
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Ah, now that makes it more intriguing, no?   
  
Please review! If nobody does I might not continue…Reviews make me type faster! 


	4. Through The Back Door

Through The Back Door  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Alias, because if I did then it would still be running new episodes.  
  
A/N: Thanks to all my readers who have made it this far! I re-read the first three chapters, and I realize it's kind of boring, but I put information in those chapters that you'll need to know for later chapters! I promise that it gets more interesting, if not any better written. But I'll try! Thanks!  
  
A/N: I tried to put italics and stuff in my other chapters, but it didn't work. Henceforth, *italics* will be in this form. ____________________________________________________________________________________________  
  
They enter the CIA through the back door, Sydney notes ironically. Everyone in the main room full of desks stares openly at the 'dead' agent. Weiss comes up cautiously as he sees them.   
  
"Sydney?" he says, "Is it really you?"  
  
Sydney nods with a small smile. "It's me. I think."  
  
Weiss has a way of asking things that makes you smile, even on the worst days, she thinks.   
  
"Hey!" he greets, making her smile a little more. She had greeted him the same way when he came back after being shot.   
  
"Come on, Kendall wants you in debrief as soon as possible," Weiss says, gently leading her away.   
  
Sydney feels a lump form in her throat as she tentatively follows Weiss into the interrogation room.   
  
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"Where have you been the past 23 months?" the man barks.  
  
"I don't know!" Sydney spits back sharply.   
  
The man interrogating her is a large man with a gruff, irritating voice. It crosses Sydney's mind that, despite his size, she can probably kill him before he knows what is happening. She finds the thought comforting. He began by trying to intimidate her into talking, and then, when that didn't work, by asking her the same question multiple times to fluster her. He has asked this question at least four times, to her recollection.   
  
The man stands. "You'll undergo a psychological evaluation now. Stay here." He walks out of the room without another word.  
  
Several minutes later, the staff psychologist entered the room.  
  
"Sydney Bristow?" she says. "It is nice to see you again."  
  
Sydney nods absently, as though she has other opinions but considers it wiser not to voice them. She remembers the woman well. She and her father saw Dr. Barnett frequently when Irina Derevko resurfaced.  
  
"Would you follow me to my office? I think you'll be much more comfortable there," she says, looking disdainfully at the hard wooden table and chairs.   
  
Sydney nods again and follows the woman, an acute sense of emptiness seeping into her being.   
  
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"Make yourself comfortable," Dr. Barnett says, gesturing at the couch and armchairs.   
  
Despite herself, Sydney is grateful to sink into the large overstuffed sofa.   
  
"Sydney, do you remember anything form the past two years?" she asks, more gently than the male agent, but nonetheless irritating.   
  
"No. Nothing," Sydney answers shortly.  
  
"Nothing at all? Not even a sense of a passage of time?"  
  
"No. I thought it was only days after that night in my apartment." Tears well in her eyes at the memory of that night.   
  
"Nothing strange, besides being in Hong Kong?"  
  
"No. Well, there was this scar," Sydney admits, her right hand moving to trace the scar through her shirt.  
  
"A scar? From what, do you think?"   
  
"I don't know. It might be from Allison cutting me with something. But I don't remember that."  
  
"Do you remember other specific events that night?"  
  
"Yes. It's all still pretty vivid. I don't think that's where this scar came from," Sydney states firmly.  
  
After an our of questions leading to no where, Dr. Barnett decides to try hypno-regression now instead of wait until later.   
  
Sydney appears calm, but she isn't. She has seen people under this treatment. They seemed to relive everything. She isn't sure she wants to relive what might have happened to her. For one short moment she wishes Vaught were here with her. Then she remembers Amanda.   
  
"Is there anyone you would like to be here for this?" Dr. Barnett asks.  
  
Sydney thinks, yes, my father, my boyfriend, the mother I remember when I was six years old. But she only shakes her head. "No," she says softly. "No one."  
  
Barnett nods. "There is no guarantee you'll remember anything this time. If it's induced amnesia, combined with you current emotional state, then it's probable you won't recall anything after you passed out," she explains.  
  
Sydney let's out a breath. She is glad that, for the moment, she won't remember those two years.  
  
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"You will wake feeling rested and refreshed," Vaughn hears as he slips into the room.   
  
He can see Sydney alone in the room separated from the room he is in by a wall of soundproof glass.   
  
"Anything?" Vaughn asks.  
  
"Nothing. Right now, the last thing she can recall is passing out in her apartment," Barnett replies with a shrug. "When she's had more time to adjust to the idea, and she's a bit more relaxed, it should all come back."  
  
"Can I go see her?" he asks.   
  
"Do you think that would be wise?"  
  
"Probably not. But I want to see her."  
  
"Go ahead. Oh, and Agent Vaughn? I'd like to have you come in for a session next week, if possible. That way it won't go on your record, as it would if I go through Kendall." Barnett's voice drips with the threat. "I think it would be in your best interests to humor me."  
  
Vaughn continues to walk into the room where Sydney sits. As he walks in she makes an obvious effort to hide the tears that streamed down her face as she recalled the fight with Allison, finding Will…  
  
"Sydney. Hi," Vaughn says, not sure what to say now that he is there.   
  
Sydney sniffles. "Hi," she says weakly, her voice wavering gently. "What are you doing here?" she adds.  
  
"Syd, I…I want you to know, I'm on your side…in all of this," he stumbles over the words. "If…If I can help, just let me know, okay?"  
  
Sydney looks down at her hands, at the floor, and up at the ceiling before she looks back at him. "No. I…thanks, but I can handle this without your help." The words come out much sharper than she intends.  
  
Vaughn nods and backs slowly toward the door. "Just know I'm here…if you change your mind." Then he is gone.  
  
Sydney is left waiting in the room while Barnett finishes entering her observations into her computer.   
  
"I took Agent Bristow all the way through the last night she remembers. Starting with the time she arrived home and ending with the time she became unconscious, Agent Sydney Bristow never received a wound an her abdomen, especially not one that would leave a scar of that size."  
  
Little does Barnett know that everything she types is being simultaneously downloaded to a computer halfway around the world and read. Irina Derevko sits in front of a computer screen, thinking that she should have taken more precautions in hiding that scar. Though it can not be realistically linked to her, the CIA will make the connection all the same. She was not expecting the scar to be looked at with any credibility as evidence. It will be interesting to see how long it takes them to discover its origin.  
  
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Okay, unless I get dozens of protesters flocking to my reviews (unlikely, I currently only have 5 reviews for this story), I promise not to end with anymore Derevko scenes. I know its irritating, but it *does* make a good ending, no? At least now I bet you can't wait for chapter 5! Speaking of which, it should be up soon, its already written, I just have to type it. 


	5. Going Home?

Going Home?  
  
Disclaimer: I don't, nor will I ever, own Alias or any of these characters, except Amanda, who is mine to do with as I wish.  
  
A/N: Normally this I where I would thank you for all the great reviews, but when I typed this my previous chapter was not even up on the site yet, so I have no reviews.   
  
So, I'll use this to ask if any of you have read the alias novels. I've read the first and third one, but I can't find the second and fourth ones. Tell me if they're even worth looking for! ___________________________________________________________________________________________  
  
Sydney is taken to a holding cell. She is given clean clothes to change into. She is given a blanket and pillow for the hard metal cot.  
  
Kendall tells her it is for her own protection. He expects her to object; she doesn't. She has no other place to go anyway. She lies down on the cot and is soon asleep.   
  
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"Agent Bristow?"  
  
Reluctantly, Sydney opens her eyes and sits up. "Mmm. What time is it?"  
  
"It's after 9:00," the guard replies.  
  
"In the morning?" Sydney asks incredulously.  
  
"Yes. Will Tippin is here to see you."  
  
"Oh! Let him in!" Sydney stands up and runs her fingers through her hair, willing it not to stick up in its usual morning fashion.  
  
"Will!" she cries as he walks in. She runs to hug him.  
  
"Syd!" Will says, amazement in his voice. "I'm so glad you're okay!"  
  
"Will, has it really been two years?" Sydney asks softly, stepping back at the same time so she can see his face.  
  
"Two long years."  
  
They move to sit on the cot.   
  
"How…how are you alive? I thought…when I saw you…"  
  
"Vaughn. He came looking for you and found me. Some substitute," he jokes. "The doctors told me another few minutes and it would have been too late."  
  
"Will, I…I want to know everything. What happened while I was…gone?"  
  
Will puts his arm around Sydney's shoulders. "How much do you already know?" he asks carefully.  
  
"Oh, well, let's see," Sydney says sarcastically, and starts ticking of points on her fingers dramatically. "My dad's missing, Francie's dead, Vaughn's married…" She could continue, but her voice cracks. She presses her fist to her mouth to keep from crying.  
  
Will pulls her against his shoulder. "Oh, Syd. It's okay. You can cry," he says awkwardly. "This must be so much to take in…"  
  
"Yeah." she takes a deep breath then continues. "But I'm okay," she says, pulling away a little so that he'll loosen his arm. Instead, he removes it completely, much to her disappointment.  
  
"So," Will begins after a moment of silence. "Where are you going to stay? After they let you out."  
  
"I don't know," Sydney says miserably. "I haven't had a chance to figure *anything* out."  
  
"Really? Uh, well, you could stay with me," Will says quickly.  
  
Sydney looked up at him. "Yeah?" She smiles.  
  
He blushes. "Yeah. I have a little two-bedroom apartment about twenty minutes from here. It'd be nice to have a little company." Will smiles that awkward grin she remembers so well.  
  
"Okay," Sydney says simply.  
  
They both sit, smiling and happy, for several long moments.  
  
"Will, what *happened* to you?" Sydney smiles and shakes her head at the look of confusion clouding Will's face and at the complete abstractness of the question. "I *mean*, what happened after you were found?"  
  
"I went into a coma. For four months. I was hospitalized for almost a year. The only contact I had with the outside world was through Dixon and Vaughn. They'd only talk about light, neutral subjects, like how the kids were doing in school or what marshal had done lately. Anytime I'd ask about you, and I did ask because I wondered why you weren't coming to see me, they'd change the subject, and if I ever persisted to ask they'd suddenly remember they had something to do. They didn't tell me you were missing until they started believing you were dead, about three months after I came out of the coma," Will told her, his voice dripping with the pain he'd felt at this discovery. "It was almost like I just reappeared after a year when I got out of the hospital, for all I knew about what had happened."  
  
"So that's why you haven't changed as much as everyone else," Sydney mumbles to herself.  
  
"Yeah. It's almost like I lost a year, too," he says softly, understandingly.   
  
"Yeah." Sydney pauses. "I'm sorry, but I'm glad you're still the same."  
  
"Yeah, I'm glad you're the same, too. I guess I expected you to be different, somehow. You were out there, living, doing something. I was in a hospital bed, not doing anything." He pauses, and then looks at her intensely. "It *was* two years."  
  
Sydney moves closer to Will and he puts his arm around her again. "I know," she murmurs. "I know."   
  
"Ahem, Agent Bristow?" the guard is at her door again. "Agent Dixon is here to take you for a physical examination."  
  
Sydney stands up quickly. "I'm coming." She turns to Will. "I'll let you know when they release me."  
  
Will stands up and follows Sydney out.   
  
"Sydney! I can't believe…we all thought you were dead!" Dixon cries, pulling her into a quick hug.   
  
"That seems to be the consensus around here," Sydney says good-naturedly.   
  
"Sorry to rush, but Kendall will probably have me fired if I don't get you to your appointment on time, Syd," Dixon says.  
  
"I'll come see you before I leave tonight," Will tells her. "Hey, if you need anything let me know. Your dad saved most of your stuff, put it in storage. I can get a key if you want," he offers.  
  
"No, thanks Will. I'll see you later," she calls as Dixon leads her away.  
  
"See you."  
  
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"Sydney Bristow?"   
  
Sydney is lost in her own thoughts, but her eyes snap up at the sound of her name.  
  
"Yes?" She stares at the man in the standard green uniform anxiously.   
  
He smiles reassuringly. "You're fine. There are traces of multiple sedatives in your system, but that was expected. As for the scar, I wouldn't worry. We can't draw any conclusions without actually making another incision, but it seems to have healed fine, what ever it was. We will need to know more about it, but that can be done later. We'll also have to run some more tests, but we won't know which ones are necessary until we get complete results from the ones we're running."  
  
"So I can leave as soon as soon as Kendall signs off on it?" she asks tonelessly.  
  
"From a medical standpoint, yes. Agent Dixon will be here any moment to escort you back to your cell," he says before he walks off, as if she is a criminal.  
  
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Once again, data is downloaded from the CIA server as soon as it is entered. Irina shakes her head slightly as she reads it.   
  
"Sydney," she mumbles to herself, "you would be better off if you would ignore your scar."  
  
On a whim, Irina presses a button and an image of the main CIA room full of desks appears on the screen. She quickly finds the figure she is looking for. To her surprise, he sits at his desk with his head in his hands with no regard for the woman walking toward him. The woman Irina knows to be Amanda Lawrence-Vaughn. Irina's lips tighten into a thin line. She shakes her head again.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
"Michael, what's wrong?" Amanda asks.  
  
Vaughn suppresses a groan. He'd made the mistake of telling Amanda that Dr. Barnett thought he should have a counseling session, and ever since she'd been checking up on him constantly.   
  
Sydney would have noticed how much it annoys me, but not Amanda, he thinks. She doesn't have half the brains Syd does.  
  
"Nothing, Mandy. Just stressed, that's all," he replies quickly.  
  
"Are you sure? May be Barnett is right, Mike, it might help," Amanda says, pressing the issue for what Vaughn is sure must be the millionth time since last night. "She'll just go through your superiors if you don't schedule the appointment for yourself."  
  
"Mandy, I don't need to see any damn psychologist!" Vaughn growls in a low voice.  
  
"But…" she begins softly, genuinely surprised by his reaction.  
  
"No! Now drop it. I've got work to do, and so do you." She is only two years younger than Syd, he thinks, but she seems so *young* all of a sudden.  
  
Amanda retreats back to her desk obediently.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
"Will! Hi!" Sydney stands gratefully. She has been in this cell for nearly four hours with nothing to do, ever since she arrived back with Dixon.  
  
"Hey! Great news, Syd, they sent me to tell you. Kendall signed off on it, you can leave tonight! Now, if you want," Will explains. He enjoys the look of delight that appears on her face.  
  
"Great! If I have to stay in here one more second I think I'd go crazy! If that's okay with you, I mean." She looks hopefully at Will. "Everything in here reminds me of my mother," she adds, looking around at the sterile walls and the cold steel cot.  
  
Will nods slightly. "Come on, Syd," he says, gripping her arm and gently pulling her toward the door.  
  
Once they are in Will's discreet, and standard CIA style, dark blue sedan, Will says, "I thought we would stop by the storage place first so you can get some of your stuff. Just enough for a few days, we can sort through the rest of it this weekend. "  
  
"Okay." Sydney is quiet for a long moment. "Thanks, Will."  
  
"For what?" he asks.  
  
"For letting me stay with you. If I get in your way, just…"  
  
"Like I said," he interrupts firmly, "It'll be nice to have some company. I don't get out much lately," he admits.   
  
"Still, this is great of you."  
  
He glances at her and smiles. "It'll be just like old times."  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
"Ugh, it's going to take forever to find anything in here!" Sydney moans as she looks into the large storage room.  
  
"Naw. Clothes are mostly over there," he says, gesturing at one corner. "Anything else can wait until this weekend, right?"  
  
"Yeah. I guess it'll have to."  
  
Almost half an hour later, Sydney finally finds boxes of clothing. "I'll just take one of these," she says, finding some with some long-sleeved shirts and jeans.   
  
"Here, I'll take it. You make sure there's nothing else you need," Will says, taking the box from her.  
  
"Okay," Sydney says, turning back to the boxes and randomly opening some of them.  
  
Then she opens a box with a small picture album on top.   
  
She can see a picture of herself and Vaughn in it.  
  
____________________________________________________________________________________________  
  
Okay! Now, I think that's a little better than my other endings, isn't it? Now, please click that lil' review button, I have to go finish chapter 6... 


	6. Pandora's Box

Pandora's Box  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Alias. The only character I own is Amanda, and I don't really want her. If I owned Vaughn, he would be married to Sydney already.  
  
A/N: The name of this chapter is Pandora's Box. According to Greek mythology, Pandora was the first woman, and she let all of the evils that plague humankind out of a box. It's a slightly different scenario here, but if you think about it for a minute, the things in Sydney's box could be looked at as 'evils'. ____________________________________________________________________________________________  
  
Flipping through the album quickly, she sees that it contains more similar pictures.   
  
Under that she finds a few men's t-shirts and a pair of jeans.  
  
These were in *his* drawer, she thinks.  
  
Among other things, she also finds the picture frame Vaughn gave her, mementos from several of their dates, and even a few items from missions they'd been on together that she is sure he must have saved.   
  
One such item is a medium-length black wig that, for her, brings back memories of a short, tight black dress that clung quite uncomfortably. But she also remembers that Vaughn's eyes rarely left her body while she was wearing that dress. She smiles sadly.  
  
Sydney closes the box quickly as Will walks back into the building.   
  
"I'm taking this one too," she says, tucking the box under her arm. "I don't need anything else," she adds quickly, hoping Will doesn't open the box or insist on carrying it; it is much too heavy to be clothes.  
  
"Okay," he says, "Then you're ready to head to my place? I'm sure you're tired."  
  
"Yeah. I haven't slept too good lately," she says, her voice dripping with sarcasm.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
Vaughn gathers up all of his courage and approaches the holding cell, only to find it vacated.   
  
"Where's Sydney?" he asks in surprise.   
  
He is told she left with Will.  
  
The box! he thinks. Will will take her to get at least *some* of her things. If Amanda finds out about that box…  
  
He can't finish the thought.  
  
He kicks himself again mentally for ever getting involved with Amanda. But as much as he loves Sydney, he can never hurt Amanda like that. She's really a great person, she just got caught up in the web of lies and deception that all started with Irina Derevko…  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
Sydney sits on the bed in Will's spare bedroom with the contents of the box dumped before her. It is 6:00, and Will thinks she is sleeping. But she isn't; she can't. She sorts through each item, remembering the story attached to each object as she does. She doesn't know what she's looking for. Possibly she's searching for some sign that his feelings for her haven't changed.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
Vaughn is pulling into his driveway when his cell phone rings. He is tempted not to answer it, but he does anyway out of habit.   
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Agent Vaughn." It is Kendall. "I've just spoken with Dr. Barnett. I believe you're familiar with her. You will be in her office first thing Friday morning."  
  
"Tomorrow?!?" Vaughn cries. "Can't it wait until Monday?"  
  
"And give you time to come up with an excuse? No. Tomorrow." Kendall hangs up before Vaughn can object.  
  
He pounds the steering wheel before he bolts out of his car.   
  
"Are you happy, Amanda?" he yells, slamming his brief case down on the table by the door.  
  
"What are you talking about, Michael?" she asks softly, fearfully. Like a rookie agent, he thinks.   
  
"Kendall scheduled me to meet with that damn psychologist tomorrow!" he yells, pacing in long strides around the kitchen where Amanda had been starting dinner. "I bet you told him you thought it would be a good idea, didn't you? DIDN'T YOU?!?" he nearly screams.  
  
She is scared, but she is also worried about him, too. He's never been like this…he seems almost wild at times.  
  
"N-no, Mike," she stutters, "I w-wouldn't, n-not if you didn't w-want me to, but I told you sh-she'd just go over y-your head…"  
  
Vaughn pounds his hand flat on the kitchen table in frustration before he walks out.   
  
As soon as he is gone, Amanda picks up her CIA issue cell phone and dials.   
  
"I need to speak to Dr. Barnett," she says nervously when the phone is answered.  
  
There is a short pause.   
  
"Dr. Barnett."  
  
She sighs softly.   
  
"This is Agent Amanda Vaughn. I need to talk to you about my husband," she says softly, afraid Vaughn will hear her.  
  
"What's wrong?" Barnett asks.  
  
"I think finding Sydney Bristow has pushed him over the edge," she blurts before she loses her nerve. "I even think he regrets marrying me. I've made friends at the agency; I know all about him and Bristow before she disappeared. Everyone that knew them was sure they would get married soon. There was even a rumor that he'd already bought her a ring when it happened. Lately, he just seems to get angry at me, no matter what I do or don't do. I don't want to hurt him, but I think it's only fair that you know completely what he's doing."   
  
"Thank you, Amanda. I'll speak with him," Barnett says gently.  
  
"I'd rather he didn't know I spoke with you. He really is against this, and he already thinks I talked to Kendall about this…"  
  
"I won't tell him I spoke with you, Amanda. I'm sure there are other people he's been short-tempered with, not just you. He'll never know."  
  
"Thank you."  
  
For about the millionth time since she'd been recruited, Amanda sits down and wonders why she even wanted this job with the CIA so badly. She'd always been shy and timid. Until Michael, she'd never been in a relationship that lasted more than a month. So why did Michael chose *her*?  
  
An unsettling thought crosses her mind. She has seen formal black and white photos of Sydney Bristow. But now she wants to meet the agent face to face.  
  
Amanda grabs her purse and runs out the front door, yelling over her should that she's leaving but she'll be back in time for dinner.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
It is 7:00 when Sydney hears a knock at Will's front door. She hears him move to get it.  
  
"Is Sydney Bristow here?" a woman's voice asks.  
  
"Official or personal interest, Amanda?" Will asks. He has gone places with Vaughn and Amanda, so he knows her, but something about her is different, more…aggressive, or may be she just seems to have a very definite goal in mind.  
  
"Personal," Amanda answers promptly. "Now is she here?"  
  
Will nods.  
  
"I think she's asleep right now. What do you want?" Will asks suspiciously.  
  
"I knew you'd ask. I just want to meet her, and talk a little. Michael's been…touchy…since she was found. I feel like, if I can talk to her, she might can help me clear some things up."  
  
"Go sit in the den," Will relents. "I'll see if she's awake."  
  
Sydney, upon hearing this, scurries to clear things off of the bed back into the box, which she pushes behind the bed.  
  
Will knocks lightly. "Syd, you awake?"  
  
"Yeah. Come on in," Sydney says.  
  
"So I guess you heard all that?" he asks, stepping into the room and closing the door.  
  
"Yeah," she admits, "But I don't know if I can. I don't know how I'll handle trying to talk to my *replacement*."  
  
"I understand completely," Will says with a sigh, "And I can't make you, but I think she can clear up as much for you as you can for her. You know, help each other out. It's not easy for her, all this."  
  
She looks up and sees how sincere he's being.  
  
"Okay. I'll talk to her."  
  
"I'll be in the kitchen," Will says quickly.  
  
"What?!? You're leaving me *alone* with her?"   
  
"I'm not getting between you two," he says so matter-of-factly that she has to smile.  
  
She rolls her eyes and walks past him.  
  
She stops in the doorway of the den. The woman is standing in front of the window with her back to Sydney.  
  
Amanda turns around slowly when she hears Sydney. Now it is clear to her why Vaughn chose her.  
  
Neither woman can believe how similar they look.  
  
"Amanda Vaughn, I presume?" Sydney asks coldly.  
  
"Sydney Bristow…It's good to…to meet you," she stutters, all of her training as an agent failing her.  
  
"Oh, likewise, I'm sure," Sydney spits back sarcastically.  
  
Amanda sighs and shakes her head.  
  
"Miss Bristow, I'm sure I'm among the last people you want to help, yet that's what I'm here to ask of you. Michael has been different since you came back. He never seems happy or even relaxed. I don't know if it's because of you or me, and that's what I want to find out," Amanda pleads.  
  
Sydney's resolve fails.  
  
"Okay. Um, let's sit down and…talk," she says softly.  
  
Amanda smiles gratefully. "Thanks."  
  
Sydney's impression is that this woman is much younger than she, or may be she has had a simpler life and is just more naïve.   
  
"So," Sydney breaks the tense silence, "How is he?"  
  
____________________________________________________________________________________________  
  
Hmm, what a great cliffhanger, huh? Will Amanda refuse to answer the question? If not, what will Amanda tell Sydney about Michael? Will the two women confront the fact the they look so much alike? Will they hate each other and feel that each is taking away what the other wants?  
  
Okay, I'm thinking of starting a future story, but it's going to be based on some stuff that will come up in, like, chapter ten or so. It would be helpful to me if you'll continue to read this story at least that far and let me know what you think!  
  
Also, reviews are more than welcomed! 


	7. A Can of Worms

A Can Of Worms  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Alias, never will. But if Alias ever comes out with a character named Amanda I'm suing. ____________________________________________________________________________________________  
  
"He seems so *angry* all the time," Amanda tells Sydney. "Anytime he's spoken to me in two days he's been mad. This afternoon he came home practically screaming at me because he thought I talked to Kendall about him seeing Barnett. I would *never* do that," she emphasizes.   
  
"Why not?" Sydney asks. "Some conflict with her?"  
  
"Sort of. On the third mission I was sent on, I was captured. I was held for three days before Kendall sent Michael to extract me. I was so scared. I was only 23. All the way back to the states, I couldn't stop shaking and crying. Looking back, nothing they did was so terrible. They only kicked me around a little; I came out of it with a few mild bruises. But they kept waving this gun around at me. I've been terrified of guns since I was a kid," she admits, "My older brother was shot by mistake by a hunter when I was six. I had to see Barnett for an hour every day when I got back. It was so *hard* for me to tell her anything. I wouldn't put anyone through that." Amanda's hands start to tremble slightly at the memory.  
  
"I know," Sydney agrees. "But sometimes it's necessary."  
  
"He has an appointment with her first thing in the morning."  
  
Sydney's eyes widen angrily. Just minutes before Amanda arrived she talked with Kendall. He had told her to meet with Barnett early tomorrow.   
  
"Kendall! He did this, he knew!" she mutters loudly. "He told me to be there at the same time!" she spits at the startled woman in front of her.   
  
"Michael's not going to like this," is all Amanda can manage to say.  
  
Sydney calms herself and returns to her seat, which she had vacated when she realized what Kendall had done, before she says anything.   
  
"Don't tell him."  
  
"What?" Amanda asks incredulously.  
  
"Don't tell him. Look, he'll never think you knew about this, and if he knows he won't come. This is the only way I'll get to talk to him. I think he's afraid to come near me now. I'm sure the fact that I could kick his ass in a fight doesn't help much either," she adds with a smirk.  
  
To her surprise, Amanda smiles.   
  
"Okay, Sydney, but if he kills me for it you're an accessory to murder," Amanda makes a pitiful attempt at humor.   
  
"That's not funny. But if he gives a reason to *get* murdered, I get first shot," Sydney mutters, her attempt no more successful.  
  
Will stands in the kitchen about to fall over in a dead faint. Amanda and Sydney are actually getting along? Women, he mumbles to himself. He mentally adds that he hopes Vaughn doesn't find out any of the three of them know that his session isn't just *about* Sydney, but *with* her.  
  
He walks quietly into the den. He notices immediately that the women do not wear expressions of friendship; their countenances are more that of two people with common goals.  
  
"Ahem," Will clears his throat loudly, "Could you come in the kitchen Sydney? It'll only take a minute."  
  
"Sure," she says easily. "What?" she asks as the swinging kitchen door closes behind them.  
  
"Um, I was making spaghetti for supper. Do you mind if Amanda stays? I mean, it's getting late, and we're friends, sort of…" He trails off, waiting for Sydney's reply.  
  
"That's fine." Sydney grins mischievously. "You know, I could take her down if I wanted, she's too nervous. But I'm not going to do that, Will, I'll be civilized," she says, deliberately planting that little seed of doubt in his mind.  
  
At the expense of her fun, Will sees right through her teasing.   
  
"Okay, but don't say things like that around people. They might lock you up in a mental facility somewhere," Will grumbles playfully as they walk out of the kitchen.  
  
"Hey, Amanda, want to stay to eat?" He is surprised to see her eyes dart to Sydney, who is standing behind him in the doorway, before she looks back to him.  
  
"It's fine with me," Sydney says, keeping her promise to be civil.  
  
"No, thanks, Michael's waiting for me at home. I have chicken in the oven. I better get going," she says, rising quickly.  
  
"Too bad. Some other time?" Will asks.  
  
She glances at Sydney before answering.  
  
"May be." But not while she's here.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
This is going to be a disaster, Vaughn thinks as he knocks on Barnett's door.  
  
"Come in," Barnett calls.  
  
He opens the door and takes a step inside.  
  
Correction. This is going to be the end of the world, he adds.  
  
Sydney Bristow is seated on one end of the couch across from Barnett. She doesn't seem upset or surprised by his arrival. In fact, she seems to have been expecting it.  
  
It takes everything Sydney has not to grin like an evil little imp from the Wizard of Oz when Vaughn walks through the door. The look on his face is *priceless*.  
  
"Did I come at the wrong time?" he asks hopefully.  
  
"No, you're right on time, Agent Vaughn," Barnett says in her generically content voice. "Please take a seat and we'll begin." she gestures at the couch.   
  
He plops down reluctantly.  
  
"You seem a great deal more surprised at this arrangement that Agent Bristow. Care to elaborate on why this may be?" Barnett directs the question to both of them.  
  
"She knew," Vaughn says simply.  
  
"Sydney?" Barnett raises her eyebrows like question marks.  
  
"How might I have known, *Agent* Vaughn?" she asks in a falsely sweet voice. For some reason, she revels in the glare he shoots her way.  
  
"I don't know. Kendall? Amanda? Or may be the agency saw fit to inform *you* of this little detail?" The sharp edge in his voice hurts him more than it could ever hurt her.  
  
Sydney shakes her head and suppresses a grin. She's getting some twisted pleasure out of toying with him.  
  
"I was no more informed of this than you were," she says vaguely.   
  
"So," Barnett says, interrupting the stalled debate, "Let's get to the reason you're here. I suspect you've both taken steps to avoid the other?"  
  
They both shrug and suddenly find the light beige carpet immensely interesting.   
  
"So, who wants to begin?"  
  
"What do we begin with?" Sydney asks.  
  
"Whatever you want. Where ever you feel your story should begin," Barnett coaxes subtly.  
  
Sydney sighs, realizing she's trapped herself.  
  
"I'll start," she mumbles.  
  
Barnett nods her consent.   
  
"I guess it all started for me the moment I saw the ring on his finger," she says, talking as if Vaughn isn't even in the room. "He was willing to explain things for me, but, the way he explained it just…I just couldn't handle hearing it all that way. But he eventually explained most of it to me, despite how stubborn I was. It was a long flight. Considering my predicament immediately after my return, I could hardly take steps to avoid him if he wanted to see me. But if I could, I probably would have," she admits. The look she sees on Vaughn's face causes a lump of lead to settle in her stomach. She takes a deep breath and continues shakily. "Yesterday Amanda Vaughn came looking for me at Will's apartment. Someone must have told her I was staying there. We were both surprised at how…similar…we look. At first, all I could think of was how I could take her out in an instant. But we talked for a while, and I realized how much of a victim she is in all this. I can only imagine all the doubts she must be having about *everything*." She turns to Vaughn and really looks at him for the first time since she started. "Amanda was worried about how you reacted to this session, and she mentioned it. She didn't realize I'd be here, too, but I did. I didn't think you'd come if you knew," she says, her eyes apologetic.  
  
"You were right," Vaughn admits. "And Mandy came looking for you huh?" He feels a terrible guilt washing over him as he thinks how scrared she must have been to look to *Sydney* for answers.  
  
"Your turn, Agent Vaughn," Barnett says bluntly.  
  
"Do I have to go back over things she already knows?"  
  
"You may tell what you want."  
  
He nods and focuses on a spot on the wall.  
  
"I haven't been sure of anything since she came back," He says, adopting Sydney's tactic. "I've been in a pretty bad mood, I guess. I've snapped at Amanda for no real reason more than once. But she's been great about it. I tried to talk to Sydney a few times while she was still in custody, but she wanted no part of it. Not that I blame her, but I've sort of avoided her since then. When I had the choice," he adds with a slight smirk.  
  
Barnett is silent for a long time, making notes on her clipboard. Finally she breaks the uncomfortable silence by saying, "I want to get both of your views on something." She pauses and they nod. "as you know, it was determined in the investigation following Miss Bristow's disappearence that the two of you were in a relationship at the time. I've talked to the doctors here, and they agree that, form the position of the scar it is entirely *possible* that Miss Bristow *could*," she says slowly, "Have been pregnant and delivered a baby in a c-section. They want to do some tests to look into this, but how would this change everything?"  
  
They both sit in an astounded silence. Slowly they turn toward each other and their eyes lock. Sydney seems shocked at the thought, as though the idea of *forgetting* a child has devastated her. Vaughn's face shows more fear, as though he knows *everything* would change if a child were involved.   
  
Finally Vaughn manages to sputter "What…what is this based on?!? Do they have any reason to believe she *was* pregnant?"   
  
"They have no proof that she *wasn't* pregnant," Barnett stresses. "But there is currently no proof that she was."  
  
"I might have…a…baby?" Sydney finally says in such a small voice that her companions can hardly hear her. She has always wanted to eventually settle down and have a family, as unlike her own dysfunctional family as possible. But she might *have* a child and not kow it…  
  
Barnett quickly realizes she had made a mistake.  
  
"Miss Bristow," She says, trying to soothe the woman now so near her breaking point, "*Nothing* supports this thoery other than the placement of the scar. And it could be from *anything*. Please, calm down, please…"  
  
____________________________________________________________________________________________  
  
Okay, now *that* is a cliffhanger. I think. Anyway, doesn't it leave you wondering what's going on?  
  
Please R&R! 


	8. Baby Bristow

Baby Bristow  
  
Disclaimer: I now own the baby as well as Amanda. But the rest of it doesn't belong to me.  
  
A/N: Okay, it's the world's worst title, but if you can think of a better one I'd be glad to hear it. I'm open to suggestions. _____________________________________________________________________________________  
  
Sydney sits silently on the cold metal examining table while CIA doctors poke and prod and run this test and that test.  
  
It is only hours after her session with Barnett ended badly. She fainted when the idea of having a child she couldn't remember sank in. she was brought here and awoke on the same table she is on now. Vaughn was there; he begged, *pleaded*, to stay with her when she insisted they run the test immediately.   
  
He has a right to know, she thinks, but not to be here with me. Not anymore.  
  
A doctor walks up to her.   
  
"You can go now, Agent Bristow. We'll have the results in 24 to 48 hours," he explains.  
  
"Please be sure to notify me immediately," she requests curtly.  
  
"One more thing," he says as she walks past him.  
  
She turns to face him slowly.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Agent Vaughn has requested that he be notified of the results as well. This information is only released to agents of his status if you sign off on it. Do you give your permission?" he asks.  
  
Sydney remains quiet for a long moment. Then she shakes her head slowly.  
  
"No, I'll tell him myself," she whispers.  
  
******************************************************************************************  
  
Vaughn sits on a bench beside a once familiar path in the park. Their voices still ring in his ears…  
  
"No. No, Vaughn."  
  
"Syd, I have a right…"  
  
"Not to be here. Not anymore."  
  
"Sydney, I don't want to leave you here alone!"  
  
"Go, please, just go."  
  
Her mouth quivered in an effort to hold back what she *wanted* to say.  
  
He asked Kendall for the afternoon off and, for once, he got it. He drove to all of their old haunts. He ended up in the park.  
  
It's after 4:00. High school kids walk down the path hand in hand, so caught up in each other that none of them notice him there all alone. He remembers when he and Sydney walked down this path, acting just like these kids. And it hurts. God, it hurts, he realizes.  
  
He thinks the results of the tests will be reached at around 3:00 tomorrow. If they don't call me by 4:00, I'll find Sydney, he promises himself.  
  
******************************************************************************************  
  
Sydney can't sleep. She looks at the clock beside her bed and sees it's after 3 am. With a sigh she climbs out of bed and pulls out the picture album. She sits on her bed and starts flipping through the album. She smiles at all the goofy pictures where they're so obviously in love. When she gets toward the back she realizes that the center of all the back pages has been cut out. In its place is a small black box. She rakes it out and opens it carefully. Inside is a teardrop shaped diamond on a thin gold band. She slips the delicate ring onto her left ring finger and her heart drums painfully in her ears.   
  
The ring fits her perfectly.   
  
She had *thought* Vaughn had put the box with her positions. Now she *knows* he did. Had he planned to ask her in Santa Barbara?  
  
At 3:45 the next day Sydney still has not slept. She hopes the doctor will call soon. Will had to work and she is in his apartment alone. She is about to drive herself crazy. Knowing for sure one way or the other has to be better than not knowing anything. She paces back and forth in front of the phone, willing it to ring.  
  
Finally, at 4:30, it does.  
  
"Hello?" Sydney says, snatching the phone up before the sound of the first ring has cleared the air.   
  
"Sydney Bristow?" the voice inquires.   
  
"Yes, yes. What did you find?" she prompts impatiently.   
  
"Miss Bristow, I would prefer if you came in to talk about the results…"  
  
"TELL ME!" Sydney yells, though she already knows the answer.  
  
The man sighs.   
  
"Miss Bristow, our tests concluded that you were pregnant, and you delivered a child by way of a c-section. *But that does not mean the child lived or was even to term*," he stresses.  
  
Sydney is stunned even though this is what she expected to hear.   
  
"Thank you, doctor," she says softly, tonelessly.  
  
She hangs up and sits heavily in the oversized armchair in Will's den.  
  
She doesn't realize she is crying until she feels the warm tears spill down her cheeks.   
  
A sharp knock on the door makes her jump. She wipes the tears roughly from her cheeks and looks through the peephole. She s tempted not to answer it.  
  
"Syd, I know you're here! I talked to Will! Come on, we have to talk!" Vaughn insists loudly.  
  
Sydney reluctantly opens the door. Vaughn comes charging in.   
  
"You know, don't you? You told them not to tell me, didn't you?" he accuses angrily. But it isn't the same violent anger he directed toward Amanda.   
  
He watches Sydney seem to shrink into herself.  
  
"Syd?" he asks, his tone instantly gentler.   
  
"Vaughn, I…I wanted to…to tell you myself. I thought, whatever it was, you deserved to hear it from me, not some cold, impersonal doctor. That's all, I promise I was going to tell you. I *just* hung up with him," she tells him softly.  
  
"I believe you, Syd. I shouldn't have gotten mad, or doubted that you'd tell me. What did they say?" He is scared, and he wants answers.  
  
"Oh, God," she says softly as she reaches for a table to steady herself.  
  
Vaughn sees her move, though she tries to hide it, and reaches out to grab her elbow.  
  
"Come on, sit down a minute, then you can talk. It'll be okay, somehow," he promises, trying to convince himself as much as her.  
  
Seated beside him on the couch, Sydney tries to repeat what the doctor told her. He already knows, but she feels she has to say it.   
  
"I was pregnant." Her voice is mostly a squeak. "I did deliver a baby, but they made sure to tell me it might not have been to term," she adds bitterly.  
  
"Oh, Syd," Vaughn says, putting his arms around her.   
  
Sydney returns the embrace as they mourn the loss of her child. *Their* child.   
  
"Vaughn," Sydney says, pulling back. Something in her voice makes him look closely at her. "I want to find my baby." Her complete determination is evident on her face.  
  
"Our baby. The CIA will never go for this," he warns.   
  
"I don't care. I'll do it alone."  
  
"No you won't. I'm going to help." Vaughn hopes he sounds definite enough that she won't argue. If she tells him to go away, leave her alone, he will. He can't argue with her.   
  
To his relief, she nods. But what she says surprises him, though he can't believe he didn't think of it.   
  
"If we find my baby, we may find my dad."  
  
Sydney thinks he looks confused.   
  
"What if Sloane convinced him I was dead but promised him my baby if he helped him?"  
  
Vaughn nods.   
  
"It's possible. It would explain why he appeared to go willingly. There was no sign of a fight, nothing amiss. Even if he went without a fight but unwillingly, he'd have made sure *something* was wrong."  
  
"Vaughn?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"What would we have named it?"  
  
He smiles sadly.   
  
"I don't know. I always thought I'd have kids, eventually, but I guess I never thought of *actually* having them," he says.  
  
"Me neither. I just knew I wanted to someday." She pauses and inhales and exhales slowly. "One more thing."  
  
Somehow he knows it has nothing to do with the child.  
  
"What?"  
  
Sydney moves her left hand where he can see it for the first time since he arrived.   
  
"Will you tell me about this?"  
  
_____________________________________________________________________________________  
  
Oooh, how will Vaughn react? What *was* he doing with the ring? What is Irina up to during all this? What about Sloane? 


	9. A Mother's Advice

A Mother's Advice  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Sydney, Weiss, Vaughn, Barnett, Kendall, Jack, Sloane, or Derevko. But Amanda and the baby are MINE!  
  
A/N: I just want to let everyone know that I don't really *agree* with the baby storyline, but it does make a good story, and I'm currently working on a future fic that I'm going to tie in to this story, so I have to continue to follow this general theme! ____________________________________________________________________________________________  
  
Vaughn blinks and stares at her hand. *She's wearing the ring.*   
  
He sighs.   
  
"You found the picture album. I thought so."  
  
"So?" she prompts impatiently.   
  
"It was…it would have been yours. I almost asked you before you got out of the car that night," he says, staring at his hands. "But I thought you'd find it so much more romantic in Santa Barbara. I couldn't bring myself to get rid of it, so I hid it in the album. You have everything else too?"  
  
"Everything that was in that box. Is there more?"  
  
"Not really. I still have a few pictures, may be a wig, but everything else of mine and yours is in that box."  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
Amanda sits at her desk trying hard to work. She found out about Sydney being taken to see the CIA doctors. But by then, she'd already left. She looked for Michael, but soon found out that he'd left, too.  
  
Despite the problems it may cause, she hopes he is with Sydney. They need to talk about things that only the two of them know, things no one else should ever know. She can easily understand why he liked Sydney; she is level headed and handles crises without panicking, marks of a good agent and friend. But then, they were more than just friends then, weren't they.  
  
Amanda realizes that she has been staring at the same page of data for five minutes, and she doesn't remember a word of it.  
  
She reluctantly begins to read, but her computer chirps, indicating she has an e-mail. She opens it to find a simple one-line message:  
  
Sydney shouldn't look for her baby.  
  
It is signed 'her mother'.  
  
Amanda is confused for a moment. Sydney's mother is the terrorist Irina Derevko, isn't she? Amanda asks herself.   
  
She knows she should call Kendall immediately, but she doesn't. Instead, being sure that her husband is with Sydney, she dials Michael's cell.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Michael, it's me, are you with Sydney?" Amanda asks as she hears a woman say something in the background. She is positive it's Sydney.   
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
Sydney looks at Vaughn's cell phone disdainfully. She always hated those things. They *always* ring at the worst possible moment.  
  
"Why?" Vaughn asks in a tone, half defensive and half surprised, which makes Sydney study him closely.   
  
"I need to talk to her, I know she's there, give her the phone!" Amanda instructs urgently.  
  
Sydney's confusion shows plainly on her face as Vaughn hands her the phone.  
  
"It's Amanda." His voice betrays his confusion.  
  
"How did she…Did you…?" Sydney mumbles.  
  
"No. I don't know how she knew I was here, but she insists that she has to talk to you," he says, shrugging.   
  
"Amanda? What's going on?" Sydney asks.   
  
"Sydney, you wouldn't believe the e-mail I just got," Amanda says, and Sydney can tell she is shaken by this.   
  
"So why not call Kendall? Why me?" Sydney asks, confused.   
  
"Because it's about you."  
  
"Explain," Sydney says sharply.   
  
"All the e-mail said was 'Sydney shouldn't look for her baby'. What baby?" Amanda asks, wrinkling her forehead.   
  
"Was is signed?" Sydney ignores the question.  
  
"Yes. 'Her mother'. That's all it said."  
  
"She knows I'm here?!?" Sydney cries in astonishment.   
  
"You think it's legitimate? That it's Irina Derevko?"  
  
"It's her style. Look, thanks for letting me know, but get Kendall in there *now*. And get Marshal to try and trace it," Sydney orders.   
  
"Right."  
  
Sydney looks up to find Vaughn staring at her, his eyes wide and his forehead wrinkled.   
  
"What was *that* about?" he manages to sputter.  
  
Sydney relates her conversation.   
  
"Vaughn, she knew who she was sending that message to! She knew it would get back to me! *She somehow knew I found out*!" Sydney says desperately.   
  
"I'll get the computer team looking for security breaches," Vaughn promises. "She could have hacked into the medical team's files."  
  
"She also knew I'd search for it. That's what makes me so sure this is real." Sydney's eyes are wide and her lips are drawn up into a thin line.  
  
Vaughn is quiet for a long moment.   
  
"Syd, I hate your mother as much as you do," he begins, "But let's be objective here. What if it's not a threat, but a warning."  
  
"Aren't they essentially the same?"  
  
"What if she's *warning* you that it is dangerous to look. Where would you go form there?"  
  
"I'd assume there was some reason *she* needed me alive," she says cynically.   
  
"Assume for a minute she just doesn't want to see you hurt. Go from there."  
  
"Okay. May be…may be she's afraid that if I start poking around, Sloane might come after me."  
  
"Or may be she's afraid Sloane will find out something he doesn't know. Something he can use to get you over to his side."  
  
"Like what?"  
  
"The child."  
  
Sydney stands up.  
  
"You going somewhere?" Vaughn asks.   
  
"Yes. We're going to see Kendall and tell him your theory. If nothing else, it gives them more than one angle to work on."  
  
"And? You never work on that alone."  
  
"And, I feel like you might be right. This is really her, and she might be trying to keep something form Sloane," Sydney admits. She has learned to trust her feelings when working on a case.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
Irina Derevko is back in the room of computers again. She hopes the message will get Sydney to back off for a little while, at least. But it may well have the opposite effect.   
  
By now, she's probably hot on the child's trail, she thinks. But I *can't* have her looking around. It's too dangerous.   
  
She hadn't expected Sydney to recover her memory after the sedatives wore off. She hadn't expected them to find she'd been pregnant so soon. She can't allow them to find anything about the child until she is ready.  
  
But this is Sydney.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
Kendall hears their story, and he looks at them dubiously.   
  
"You expect me to believe that Derevko is trying to *protect* you?" he asks Sydney.  
  
"Yes. For some reason, she thinks I'll endanger myself by looking for my child," she says defiantly.  
  
"I'll get a few analysts to look into this. Is that all?" he asks irritably, obviously feeling his time has been wasted.  
  
"No," Sydney says. "I'd like to be restored to my previous agent status and assist with this investigation."  
  
Vaughn stands stupidly with his mouth hanging open. She'd given no prior indication of wishing to continue working as an agent. And, for once, Kendall is nearly speechless.   
  
"What…You…Is this *okay* with you, Agent Vaughn?" he asks, addressing Vaughn as the head of the task force.   
  
"Yes," he answers simply, knowing it irritates the hell out of Kendall and enjoying it.  
  
"But we already have an agent in her position!" Kendall complains.  
  
"Director, I believe *Agent* Bristow is capable of contributing more to this case than all of the other agents on the force combined. There is no tangible reason not to add her to the task force," Vaughn says firmly.   
  
"Fine. I'll need a psych evaluation from Barnett before you'll be field graded," he spits at Sydney as he walks off briskly.   
  
Sydney grins almost gleefully at Vaughn.   
  
"I'm going to talk to Barnett. Never know when we might get a lead," she says.   
  
Neither of them would ever have thought two years ago that she would be so relieved to get back into the agency that she'd worked, *fought*, so hard to get out of.   
  
____________________________________________________________________________________________  
  
Not much of a cliffhanger, I know, but surely you really want to know what adventures are to come?  
  
Please review! It'll motivate me to type the next chapter faster… 


	10. Sugar And Spice

Sugar And Spice  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Sydney, Vaughn, Will, Jack, Sloane, Irina, Kendall, Weiss, Barnett, or Marshal, so don't sue me. However, Amanda and the baby are MINE, and if they show up on the show I will be, while honored, also very upset.  
  
A/N: I have yet another title I want to explain to ensure everyone gets the meaning. This is part of that nursery rhyme, you know, "What are little girls made of? Sugar, and spice, and everything nice"? Oh, well, I guess it doesn't really matter… ____________________________________________________________________________________________  
  
Will is glad to hear it when Sydney tells him over their dinner, consisting of delivery pizza, that she is staying with the CIA.  
  
"It'll be good for you to have something to do," he tells her.  
  
"Yeah, if I have to go another day sitting around with nothing I have to do, I'll drive myself crazy. Plus, Kendall's giving me an advance on my first months pay. I'll be able to get my own place and get out from under your feet," she jokes.  
  
"Syd, I love having you here, you know that. Stop using being in my way as an excuse. I understand you want your own place, just say that," Will says, a little irritated that she keeps worrying about getting in his way.   
  
She shrugs.   
  
"You're right. I know you like having me around, but I can't stay with you indefinitely."   
  
"So, have you looked at anything yet?"  
  
"Yeah. Turns out there's a place open in this building." She hides a smile and keeps her eyes on her slice of pizza.  
  
"Really? That's great, Syd!" He really had missed her when she disappeared.  
  
"I'm not sure I can get it yet," she says, smiling broadly at his pleased reaction. "I won't know until next week. Is it okay if I stay here until then?"  
  
"Syd, that's fine. May be if I talk to the guy leasing the apartment I can get him to give it to you. We can go talk to him after we finish our gourmet meal," he teases.  
  
Sydney's cell phone rings, and at first she doesn't realize it's hers. She'd easily adjusted to life without the thing.  
  
"Bristow," she says, swallowing a bite of pizza.  
  
"Sydney."  
  
She stands and walks out of the kitchen before she replies.   
  
"Mom?"  
  
"Sydney, listen to me. What happened was necessary, or I would never have done it. Please don't look for the child. She is well. Let her stay that way."  
  
"You! What did you do with my baby?" she hisses into the phone, her hatred almost tangible. "Are *you* the reason I can't remember it?"  
  
"She is well. I do not have her, but I watch out for her. Please, don't look for her, Sydney."  
  
"What did you do to her? To me?" Sydney practically shrieks, fighting to keep her voice a whisper.  
  
"She is fine. Don't make things hard for her," Derevko pleads.   
  
"Where are you? How did you know I found out? What are you *doing*?" The questions spill unbidden from her lips.  
  
"I'm protecting you, Sydney."  
  
She hears a dial tone in her ear. Sydney quickly dials a number.   
  
"Marshal, it's Sydney Bristow. I need you to trace the last call made to this phone," she says.  
  
"Oh, Sydney, hi. Sorry I haven't had a chance to drop by. I…well, I've been a little busy…"  
  
"Marshal!" Sydney says sharply. "The trace!"  
  
"Oh, sorry. Um, let's see, it came from somewhere in…Moscow," Marshal says obediently.   
  
"Thanks." she hangs up and calls Kendall.   
  
After hearing about the phone call and location, Kendall says, "You better not be joking, Bristow."  
  
After promising to be in early the next morning, Sydney hangs up with Kendall and dials another number.   
  
"Vaughn."  
  
"I need to talk to you. Can we meet somewhere?"  
  
"Sydney? Uh, yeah, sure."  
  
They agree to meet in the park since they still have a few more hours of daylight.  
  
"I'm sorry, Will, I have to leave!" she calls as she runs out. "I'll explain later!"  
  
****LATER****  
  
"Oh, God. It was a girl," Vaughn mumbles.   
  
Sydney nods. Vaughn is as surprised at the suddenness of this as she was, she can see that.   
  
"Did you ever think of any names for a girl?" she asks.   
  
"I haven't had time lately to think of much. I am partial to the name Sydney," he says with a smile.  
  
"I thought of one on the way over here," Sydney says softly.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Laura."  
  
____________________________________________________________________________________________  
  
I know, this chapter is *way* too short, but what a great cliff hanger, huh?  
  
I want ya'll to know that as soon as I get through chapter 15 in this story, I'm going to start posting the first chapters from the future fic I'm working on. It centers around the baby in this story when she's thirteen and her future younger brother.  
  
If I get enough reviews I might post the next chapter sooner…I have to go work on chapter 12 now…I've really neglected this story the past couple of days… 


	11. Expect The Unexpected

Expect The Unexpected  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own anyone here except Amanda and the anonymous baby (who will eventually get a name, just not yet!). _____________________________________________________________________________________  
  
"You'd name a kid after your *mother*?" Vaughn cries.  
  
"No! You don't understand!" Sydney tries to explain.  
  
"What's to understand? Are you crazy?" he yells.   
  
"Vaughn! Just listen to me! Please, just listen!"  
  
He sighs and becomes silent.   
  
"Not after my mother as we know her now. After the mother I lost when I was six years old," she tells him. "When I was little, she seemed like the perfect mother. I *did* lose my mother, Vaughn. She's not my mother now, she an international terrorist."  
  
"You're referring to Laura Bristow, not Irina Derevko," he says, shifting his eyes guiltily.  
  
"Right. I loved my mother. Irina Derevko is still biologically my mother, but it's not the same."  
  
Vaughn thinks of something and studies her for a few moments.  
  
"This isn't going to stop you," he says.  
  
Sydney shakes her head.   
  
"No. It's not."  
  
******************************************************************************************  
  
Amanda sits at her desk looking over reports and wondering why Michael ran out so fast the night before. He still hasn't told her.   
  
She picks up a folder with the name Sydney Bristow on it and for a moment just stares. Then she opens it and quickly skims over the contents.  
  
Her mother contacted her? That must be why Michael left! He must have talked to her!  
  
She is so caught up in the report that she doesn't hear the woman approach her desk.  
  
"Amanda?"  
  
She looks up quickly.  
  
"Sydney! Um, I was just…what is it?" She puts the folder aside.   
  
"I wondered if you'd found the report yet. It'll have to be updated soon, Kendall sent a team to Moscow to look for Derevko. They won't find her though," Sydney says uncomfortably.  
  
"Yeah, I just found it." She wonders why Sydney is standing in front of her desk making small talk.  
  
"I want to talk to you," she says as if reading Amanda's mind. "Could you join me for lunch?"  
  
Amanda glances at her watch and realizes it's 11:30.  
  
"Um, yeah, I could do that."  
  
"Noon at that little place that just opened down the street okay?"  
  
"Yeah. Sure."  
  
"Thanks." Sydney abruptly turns and walks away.   
  
She seems nervous, Amanda notes for a change.  
  
Amanda arrives at the restaurant ten minutes early to find Sydney already there. Her back is to the door, and Amanda notices again how nervous she seems. But she also has a definite purpose in mind, she adds to her analysis.   
  
Sydney looks up from a cup of black coffee as Amanda sits down across from her at the table and both women smile nervously.   
  
"Let's order, then we'll talk," Sydney suggests.  
  
They both order light, small meals.   
  
"Okay," Amanda says, oddly enjoying having the upper hand for once, "What's going on?"  
  
Sydney takes a deep breath and begins.  
  
"You read the report? About my mother's call and how she told me the baby was a girl and she's okay? Well, I want to find her. So does Vaughn. But the CIA will never go for it. It's personal interest, the intell has no value to them. We're going to have to do this on our own. And I want you to help."  
  
Amanda stops with a bite of salad halfway to her mouth and stares at Sydney.   
  
"I know this is awkward," Sydney says quickly. "And Vaughn doesn't even know I'm talking to you."  
  
"This is more than awkward," Amanda mutters.  
  
"I know. Look, believe it or not, I'm not doing this to rub the fact that this is Vaughn's child in your face. I just think you deserve to know what's going on, and I should be the one to tell you. I feel like I should at least offer you the chance to be a part of all this, even if you don't want to be. Between the three of us, we can find her, I'm sure of it! I want to find her, and I'm asking you for help." Sydney's voice shakes badly. "You can say no if you want. I'll understand. This is hard for all of us."  
  
"Whoa. I…I want to help, if I can," Amanda says slowly. She smiles slightly. "How are we going to tell Michael we went over his head on this?"  
  
Sydney manages a small smile.  
  
"I'll tell him. I'm sure he'll agree you deserve to know what's going on," she says.  
  
"Any ideas where to start?" Amanda asks, changing the subject slightly.   
  
"Adoption agencies," Sydney says quickly. She's been considering this for a while. "I want to start with US agencies, but I don't really know where to look. If I knew where I've been, I'd have some idea where to start, may be."  
  
"When's your next session? You can ask Barnett specifically to take you through some of that."  
  
"I have a session this afternoon, actually. Regression."  
  
Amanda nods and pretends to check her watch.  
  
"I better get going. I've got a lot of stuff to do."  
  
Sydney plays along.  
  
"I better get back too. I'll talk to Vaughn as soon as I see him," she says.  
  
Sydney slightly regrets telling Vaughn he could come to her session as she is hooked up to the monitors. She has asked Barnett to take her through the time right after she disappeared to find out who took her. She's told Barnett that she keeps having a nightmare that she can't ever remember when she wakes up. This is partially true. She has trouble sleeping and she often wakes up in a cold sweat or breathing hard. But she has no indication of actually having a nightmare.  
  
Barnett takes her under and begins asking questions.  
  
"Sydney, where are you?"  
  
"A building. A basement, or a warehouse," Sydney says tonelessly.  
  
"Is there anyone there with you?"  
  
"Sloane." There is venom in her voice.  
  
"Anyone else?"  
  
"Sark was here, but he's gone."  
  
"Are you bound in any way?"  
  
"There is a single chair in the empty room. I'm tied to it, and my wrists are tied behind me."  
  
"Have they hurt you?"  
  
"Not yet. No! No!" Sydney screams suddenly.  
  
"Sydney, you are safe. They can't hurt you anymore. What is happening?"  
  
"He's injected me with something. He says something." Sydney pauses. "He says, 'I can't have you remembering any of this.' "  
  
"Any of what?"  
  
"I…I can't remember. I blacked out."  
  
"What's the next thing you remember?"  
  
Tears stream down her face.  
  
"My mother. She's standing over me. I can feel that I'm not bound to the chair anymore, but my wrists are still tied behind my back."  
  
"Does she say anything?"  
  
"She asks how I feel. She doesn't say why. I won't answer."  
  
"Where are you now?"  
  
"I don't know. It's different. I'm lying on a couch."  
  
"Does she say anything else?"  
  
"She says I'll have to stay for a while. She unties me and lets me eat something. I'm hungry, I don't know how long it's been since I've eaten." A pained expression shoots across her face.   
  
"How long have you been there?"  
  
"I don't know. She keeps giving me some kind of sedative. I'm always too tired to fight."  
  
"What else do you remember?"  
  
"The next thing is her telling me I'm going to see a doctor. She says it's time. They give me more sedatives. I'm not fully unconscious, but neither of them think I'm be able to tell what's going on."  
  
"What is going on?"  
  
Vaughn is gnawing on his fingernails.  
  
"It's a baby," she says, tears running down her cheeks. "It's a c-section. I haven't realized the weight I've gained until now. I can't look at the baby for long, they'll know I'm alert and then I don't know what they'll do to me."  
  
"Where do they take the baby?"  
  
Sydney sobs harder.  
  
"I don't know!"  
  
"I'm going to bring her out of it now," Barnett mumbles to Vaughn.   
  
As soon as Sydney comes to Vaughn rushes into the room with her. She is still crying uncontrollably, fully remembering everything she said.  
  
"Vaughn, she took her!" Sydney cries. "She took her!" Vaughn puts his arms around her and lets her cry, while it takes all of his control not to cry along with her.  
  
"I know. I know. We'll find her, Syd," he mumbles. "It'll be okay."  
  
Amanda watches the scene from a one-way window at the end of the room. ____________________________________________________________________________________________  
  
Wow, what a cliffhanger! .  
  
Okay, first off, I know ya'll all want to hate Amanda, but I can't help it! It makes the story much more interesting if you can't help but like her! 


	12. Three's A Crowd

Three's a Crowd  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters that you can recognize without reading the rest of this story.  
  
A/N: This chapter should get *quite* a reaction…especially from my beta reader! _____________________________________________________________________________________  
  
Kendall talks to Barnett for a few moments after Sydney's session while she's still in the side room.  
  
Barnett advises Kendall to send her home for the remainder of the day.  
  
"It was a huge break through. It went much further than I would have liked. It's emotionally draining," Barnett argues.  
  
Reluctantly, Kendall tells Sydney to go home.  
  
Vaughn comes up a moment later and asks for time off.  
  
Amanda follows soon behind him and also asks for time off.   
  
The three of them meet, unintentionally, in the parking lot.   
  
Amanda sees Sydney and walks over to her. When Vaughn sees Amanda approaching Sydney, he rushes to referee. Amanda sees him coming and thinks he found out about Sydney asking her to help and is now mad.  
  
Sydney can't help but see the looks on the two's faces, and she bursts out laughing.  
  
"What?" Amanda and Vaughn ask together.  
  
Sydney fails to explain the humor to their satisfaction. Finally she just laughs again.  
  
"Vaughn, I talked to Amanda at lunch today. I asked her to help us look for my baby," she says.  
  
"Syd," he says, looking at Amanda who finally gets the humor, out of the corner of his eye. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"  
  
"No. But we can make it work. Vaughn, it's only right."  
  
"Um…I…I want to help," Amanda says, reminding them she's still there.  
  
"Okay," Vaughn surrenders, throwing up his hands. "Why do I get the feeling *I'm* getting the raw end of this deal?"  
  
Sydney and Amanda look at each other, slightly more anxious than before, and laugh.  
  
**************************MEANWHILE***************************************************  
  
In savannah, Georgia, a twenty-one year old woman tucks her baby girl into her crib among an abundance of brand new stuffed animals. She and her husband, Bobby, had planned for this for over a year, but Kassie had only been with them for three months, ever since her first birthday.  
  
"Lizzy, you can't watch her sleep forever," Bobby says from the doorway of the cute pink nursery.   
  
"Sure I can," she says as he joins her beside the ivory crib with the teddy bear mobile.   
  
Bobby wonders again how such a beautiful little girl could be dropped in front of the adoption agency at two weeks old.  
  
******************************************************************************************  
  
Vaughn, Amanda, and Sydney all sit in the living room of the Vaughn's apartment. Lists of adoption agencies, grouped by state, are spread all over the coffee table and floor. Each of them is going through, each taking a state, and calling every agency on the list. They each give the same story: "My friend had a baby a little over a year ago, and she was kidnapped. My friend has reason to believe she was left with an adoption agency. Have there been any unusual cases in the past 15 months or so?"  
  
They had all come up with a list of a few possible places where the baby could be, but none of them looked likely to pan out. Most of them fall into the wrong time period.  
  
After finishing a state with a short list, Amanda grabs another state. After half an hour on that list, she finds one place that looks more likely than some of the others.  
  
"Why do you want to know about unusual adoptions?" the man she's talking to asks suspiciously.   
  
"My friend believes the child's abductor was in your area. That means it's likely that the child was left there," Amanda explains convincingly.   
  
"Okay. I can't give out any names," he warns.  
  
"That's fine."  
  
"About 14 months ago, there was a kid left out front. There was a note left with her, nothing else."  
  
"What did the note say?" Amanda asks, trying desperately to sound only mildly interested.  
  
"It said, 'take care of her for me.' It was signed Laura Bristow. Local authorities looked into it, but nothing ever came from it."  
  
"Thank you. You've been very helpful," Amanda says, hanging up before the man hears Vaughn and Sydney's immediate stream of questions.  
  
"What was that? Did you find her? Where is she?" She can't tell who's asking what.   
  
"There was a baby girl left at this agency. Right time period. There was a note. It was signed by a Laura Bristow." Amanda looks at them intensely. "I think we found her."  
  
"Where? What agency?" Sydney cries.  
  
"Georgia. An agency called Adoption Services, Inc., based in Pavo, Georgia."  
  
Sydney swallows hard.  
  
"What did the note say?" she forces herself to ask.  
  
"Sydney, do you really think…" Amanda starts to say.  
  
"What did it say?" Sydney repeats in a carefully controlled voice.  
  
Amanda sighs.   
  
"It said, 'Take care of her for me.' "  
  
Sydney looks at Vaughn, who has remained silent since his initial outburst.  
  
"Vaughn, we found her!" Sydney squeals, encouraging him to look, *act*, excited.  
  
He nods and smiles slightly.  
  
"Yes. We found her. Now what?" he asks seriously, looking back and forth between Sydney and Amanda.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
Irina Derevko stands in the dark outside the house. It is nearly midnight here. When she hears no more cars going down the road, she makes her way to the lighted window of the now familiar house. She has been here often in the last year. Not always at night, but she's sure she's never been spotted.   
  
At the window she can see the cute young couple with their baby, who's crying. They're boucing her around the room, trying to get her to sleep.  
  
Derevko smiles sadly at the sight.  
  
But it's for her own good, she reminds herself.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
"Bobby, I think there was just someone at that window!" Lizzy cries softly.  
  
"Lizzy, no one is there now. Kassie's safe here. Nothing's going to happen. You're just tired. Why don't you go back to bed? I'll stay up with her," Bobby says.  
  
"No! Bobby, there was someone watching us! She came back again!"  
  
"Liz, I've never seen this mysterious face in the window, but you've seen her three times now. Don't you think there's something wrong with that?"  
  
"May be you're right. But I want Kassie to always be safe with me," Lizzy says softly.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
Amanda sits in her living room at one in the morning. Vaughn has slept restlessly, but at least he's slept. She hasn't, not a wink. She keeps coming back to her husband's question: What now?  
  
She has decided to take the next two weeks to figure out the answer to that. She will give her notice to Kendall first thing in the morning. After the past week, and how *normal* Vaughn has treated it, she realizes she's not cut out for the CIA. She can't do anything like this again. She has decided she will go back to college and finish the psychology degree she abandoned when the CIA recruited her. Anything more than that will have to be figured out in the two weeks.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
Sydney is up late as well. She sits on her bed with the contents of the box spread out, even the ring in it's little box. She just looks at it all, not allowing herself to touch any of it. She looks at it as a test. She finally makes a very painful decision before sweeping it all quickly back into the box.  
  
Sydney catches Vaughn in the parking garage that morning, having sat watching for him.   
  
"We have to talk. Now," she says quietly but firmly.   
  
She takes a breath before she begins, but doesn't give him a chance to respond.  
  
"Vaughn, we have to end this, really end it. You've made a life without me, and I have to live with it. I don't want to ruin it. I have to get on with my life, and leave yours alone. I have to say it's over to do that." She turns quickly, punching the elevator button frantically, desperately hoping there's no one inside.  
  
Vaughn stands dumbfounded, frozen with his mouth hanging open, in the middle of the parking garage.   
  
He knows she's right, she needs to move on. But it hurts to hear her say it so coldly. Even if her eyes didn't reflect her words.  
  
After giving her several minutes to get off of the elevator, he moves slowly toward it, hoping to avoid her for a while at least.  
  
____________________________________________________________________________________________  
  
Okay, not as much of a cliffhanger as ya'll are used to from me, but I don't think you'll be too terribly upset about that…  
  
One more thing, I wanted to end it by introducing Kassie, Lizzy, and Bobby, but someone else tried a cliffhanger similar to that and she got a bunch of reviews from people telling her the cliffhanger was extremely predictable… 


	13. Mixed Emotions

Mixed Emotions  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own any recognizable characters here. Only the following belong solely to ME: Amanda, Lizzy, Bobby, and Kassie.  
  
_____________________________________________________________________________________  
  
Nine days…  
  
After nine days, Sydney has not spoken to either Amanda or Vaughn. They seem to be avoiding her as well.  
  
Odd, though. Not that Vaughn is avoiding her she expected that. But that Amanda is. Sydney is sure Vaughn did not tell Amanda about their conversation, and she didn't say anything to her, but Amanda is clearly avoiding her. She has also seemed to be following Vaughn around, acting, in Sydney's opinion, like a lost little puppy dog.   
  
None of them has looked into her baby any more.  
  
She has had four more regression therapy sessions with Barnett, but Barnett refuses to take her past when they discovered her mother released her. She has focused on getting as much detail about her abduction and what they did to her, trying to determine whether they worked together.  
  
Two days ago, Sydney got her apartment in Will's building. She has spent all her free time working on the apartment. She even forced herself to put the box back in storage and leave it alone.   
  
Unfortunately, many of her things bring back memories of something.   
  
The dresser with Vaughn's drawer.  
  
The table where the picture frame he'd given her once sat.  
  
Even a shirt she remembers wearing when she was with him.  
  
Nearly everything reminds her of a time she spent with Vaughn.   
  
It may not be a *good* distraction, but at least it gives her something to do with her time. Only, now she's almost completed the task.   
  
Soon, she realizes, I'll have to talk to Vaughn again. We can't do this forever.   
  
Will walks into her apartment a few minutes later to find her sitting on her couch staring at nothing, tears rolling down her cheeks.   
  
"Syd!" he says, surprising her.   
  
She wipes her hand across her eyes quickly.  
  
"Will, I didn't know you were here," she says softly, her voice trembling badly.  
  
"Syd, I don't like you here by yourself all the time," he says, ignoring her attempt to change the subject. He sits down and puts his arm around her.  
  
"I'm fine, Will. Really, I'm okay now," she argues, leaning her head on his shoulder.   
  
"No, you're not. Any time you don't spent working, you spend alone. I haven't even seen you in two days," he complains.  
  
"Will, I'm just working out a lot of stuff right now," she says, turning to face him. "I need to be alone."  
  
"Not all the time."" Will sighs. "Look, I'm here, talk to me. Or to *someone*. Have you willingly talked to anyone lately?"  
  
"I'm working out a lot of stuff now," she repeats. "Things *I* need to work out by myself."  
  
"Syd, let someone help you for a change!" Will says angrily, standing up. "You can't always handle everything on your own, no matter how independent you are!"  
  
Her eyes tear again, but she doesn't try to hide it.   
  
"You're right," she says in a small voice. "I can't handle this on my own."  
  
Will pulls her into a comforting hug and lets her cry.  
  
"What's going on?" he asks when she becomes quiet.  
  
"Everything that can possibly get messed up in my life has!" she says miserably. "I told Vaughn last week that I wanted to end everything between us! He hasn't come near me since. Amanda hasn't either, and I don't even know what I did to her, damn it!" she yells in frustration.   
  
"Syd, you can't expect her to like you in the circumstances," Will says in an unsuccessful effort to placate her.  
  
"But I thought we could at least be civil! She seemed so willing to help me find my baby! She was even the one that called the agency where she was left! And now she won't even look at me!" Sydney cries. "I don't expect her to like me, but now she hates me for something I don't even know about!"  
  
"Syd, you don't know she hates you. This is hard on both of you." He hugs her. "You need to get away from all this. How about I take you out tonight? We can do what ever we feel like. Just a night away from this whole mess," he offers.  
  
She smiles. Good old Will.   
  
"Okay. You're right. I need to just get away for a while."  
  
"I'll meet you out front around six?"  
  
"Great."  
  
They hug, and Will looks at her with concern.  
  
"Remember, I'm just down the hall if you want to talk to somebody," he says as he leaves.  
  
******************************************************************************************  
  
"Michael?"  
  
Vaughn looks up from his newspaper, looks at his wife, then sits it on the floor of their living room.  
  
"What, Mandy?"  
  
Amanda sits uncomfortably on the couch across from him.   
  
"I'm leaving the CIA," she starts.  
  
"I thought so. Kendall hasn't given you anything new past couple of days," he says warily.  
  
"You don't care?"  
  
"I care, I'm just not surprised," he says even more cautiously.  
  
"I'm going to go back to college, finish my degree," she says quietly.   
  
"And?" He senses that there's more to this that leaving the CIA. She's said that, but she's still nervous.  
  
Confirming his suspicions, Amanda looks down at their mahogany colored rug before she looks directly at him and answers.  
  
"I'm leaving." She shakes her head vigorously when he begins to protest. "No, don't. If I stay, then I'm being unfair to you, to Sydney, *and* to myself."  
  
Now it's his turn to develop an interest in the rug.  
  
"When are you leaving?" he asks finally.  
  
"Tomorrow sometime. I have a few more days with the CIA, but I'm taking vacation time."  
  
"Why, Amanda? Really, the complete truth," he pleads.   
  
She sighs slowly.  
  
"All the time we've been married, we've been *comfortable*, I think. And you want more than comfortable. So do I. I just haven't found it yet."  
  
"Mandy…"  
  
"I'm leaving. That's it. I don't belong here," she says apologetically.  
  
He feels even more guilty than before, if it's possible.  
  
"Where will you go?"  
  
"I'll stay with my dad in Arkansas for a while. It's been two years since I've seen him, he'll be glad to have me," she says.  
  
"I'll miss you. I will," he says honestly.   
  
"Don't do this, Michael. Please don't. I'll call you next week sometime. I wanted to say good-bye now, in case I don't see you tomorrow," she explains.  
  
"Good-bye, Mandy," Vaughn says softly.  
  
"Good-bye." She kisses his cheek before going into their guest room for the night.  
  
She turns in the doorway.  
  
"I'm leaving LA as soon as I clear some things up with some people," she says. _____________________________________________________________________________________  
  
Ooooh! Well, isn't that interesting! I do want to make Amanda the likeable person you have to hate. And does anyone else want to see Will any Syd together for a while? I think it would be so cute, but of course it can't last…  
  
Please review! I love any feedback, good or bad! 


	14. Previous Truths

Previous Truths   
  
Disclaimer: Nope, most of these aren't my original characters.   
  
A/N: So, this is progressing nicely, isn't it? I still want Amanda to be a likeable character, even though you're supposed to hate her for Sydney's sake. Let me know how I'm doing with that… _____________________________________________________________________________________  
  
"Syd, you look great!" Will says as she steps into the parking lot in front the apartment building.   
  
Sydney laughs.   
  
"Give it up!" She's wearing blue jeans and a t-shirt that says "I didn't do it" across the front. Her long brown hair is pulled back into a ponytail, and she's wearing only the faintest trace of eye shadow.  
  
"No, really," Will insists. "You've always looked great in jeans, but you look pretty good dressed up, too."  
  
She laughs again, and so does Will.  
  
"So, what are you up for?" he asks as they climb into his car. "I've heard the skating rink that just opened up is pretty neat."  
  
"That sounds like fun," she agrees. "I haven't been skating since I was a kid."  
  
"Skating it is!" he says dramatically, causing them both to laugh again.  
  
"Eeeee!" Sydney squeals. The old quad skates are next to impossible, she thinks as she runs into Will. She stumbles yet again in the center of the round rink.  
  
Will grabs her arm to keep her from falling, but she accidentally kicks his feet out from under him and they both end up in a heap on the floor. They're both laughing and out of breath. Sydney pushes a stray piece of hair out of her face as she gets unsteadily to her feet.   
  
"I warned you!" she cries playfully. "You didn't believe me when I said I couldn't skate on these!"  
  
"I believed you," Will teases, "I just didn't think you'd be *this* bad!"  
  
She laughs.  
  
"Why don't we go get something to eat while I'll still be able to move tomorrow?" she suggests.  
  
"Good idea. That floor's a lot harder than I thought," he says, wincing slightly.  
  
The restaurant is tiny, but very cozy, especially in their corner booth. Sitting there, Sydney finally admits what has been on her mind for the last week.   
  
"Will, do you know how I could go about getting my baby?" she asks.  
  
He looks up in surprise.  
  
"You'll have to prove you're her mother," he begins. "DNA tests or something. Then, since you didn't sign off on her being adopted and you're alive, you can legally get her. But Syd," he adds quietly, "If she's happy and with good people, do you really want to mess with that?"  
  
She shakes her head and blinks back tears.  
  
"No. I want her to be happy. I don't want to take her away from a normal life and people that love her. I can't handle the thought of her someday wondering why her real mother abandoned her. I need her. I need my baby. I need someone who'll always be there, someone who'll always need me. Then, may be, I can move on," she tries to make him understand.   
  
He holds her hands between his on the table.  
  
"I know. I understand, you need someone that you *know* won't leave you," he says gently.  
  
******************************************************************************************  
  
Amanda is outside Sydney's apartment early the next morning.  
  
"Amanda?!?" Sydney says in surprise.   
  
Amanda smiles bitterly.  
  
"Hi. Can we talk for a minute?" she asks humbly. "I won't stay long."  
  
"Uh, sure, come on in," she says, stepping back. "Sit down." She sits in her armchair, leaving Amanda the couch.   
  
"Sydney, I'm leaving LA," she says.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"I thought you should hear it form me," she continues. "I don't belong here. Don't belong in the CIA. Don't belong with Michael. You do." She smiles bitterly again. "He says your name in his sleep. Always has. When we got married," she explains carefully, "We were both okay with a comfortable relationship. And that's all it was. He's *never* looked at me the way he does you. He loves you. If I stay, I'm just making it hard for all of us. You two belong together. May be some day I'll find someone I belong with, but it's just not here."  
  
"Why are you telling me this?" Sydney can't help asking.   
  
"You should have hated me. Out of the two of us, you should have been the one to get mad. But you didn't. You helped me. You let me help look for my husband's baby, when anyone else wouldn't have even wanted me to know about it. I guess I felt like I owed you," she finishes lamely.  
  
Sydney nods slowly.  
  
"Thank you," she finally says, "For not hating me either."  
  
"I have to go. Take care of him, okay?" Amanda says, her voice shaking almost imperceptibly. She forces a smile.   
  
"Yeah," Sydney says dazedly.  
  
******************************************************************************************  
  
"Kassie! No!" Lizzy scolds gently as the baby tugs on the table cloth.  
  
"No!" Kassie mimics, giggling and clapping her tiny hands happily.   
  
Lizzy sweeps the girl up in her arms and tickles her. Kassie squeals appropriately. Bobby walks in smiling and holding a soft rag doll.   
  
"Come on, girl, nap time," he says, taking Kassie from Lizzy.   
  
"No!" Kassie screams, reaching for Lizzy.  
  
"She's so energetic!" Lizzy laughs. "She's never tired!"  
  
"But you are. May be the two of you need naps," Bobby suggests.   
  
"Sounds good. You putting Kassie down today?"  
  
"Sure. Get some sleep, Mommy," he says, grinning.   
  
"Okay, Daddy," she replies. She smiles back and kisses his cheek.  
  
******************************************************************************************  
  
Sydney sits in a parking lot several blocks from the garage watching for Vaughn's car in the early morning light. she plans to "accidentally" arrive in the parking garage at the same time he does.   
  
When she sees his car, she pulls out a good distance behind him. In the garage, she parks several rows away from him. He is already waiting for the elevator when she walks up.  
  
"Hey," she says softly, walking up and standing beside him.  
  
He looks up in surprise. He is sure she has been avoiding him.  
  
"I'm sorry. What I said last week, I didn't mean any of it. I don't want to end anything. I don't want to move on. But I don't want to mess up your life. I'm good at that," she mutters sadly when he remains silent.   
  
"Don't say that," he finally says as they step into the elevator, thankfully alone. "Amanda's leaving," he adds softly.  
  
"I know. I saw her this morning," Sydney admits in a small voice.  
  
"I'm sorry, Syd," he says after a moment.  
  
She looks at him sharply.  
  
"This is all my fault."  
  
"No it's not, Vaughn! There was no way you could have know," she protests, moving closer and slipping her hand into his. "If it's anyone's fault, it's mine. I hurt everyone I love," she whispers, choking back tears.   
  
"No you don't. Syd, you just live a complicated life," Vaughn says softly, squeezing her hand.  
  
"Will you come to my apartment tonight? After work? We can…talk," she says.  
  
"Uh, yeah, we can talk," he repeats as the elevator opens and they separate.   
  
"See you," she says dazedly.  
  
"See you," he repeats.  
  
******************************************************************************************  
  
Will sits at his computer, carefully looking into the adoption files at the agency where Sydney told him her baby was.   
  
He soon finds a file of a girl of the right age. The word "abandoned" jumps out at him. He's found her.  
  
According to the file, she's been adopted by a young couple, Elizabeth and Robert Gordon, adopted her. They live in Savannah, Georgia. They've tried to have kids but found themselves unable to. They both interacted wonderfully with the girl.  
  
He prints the information out and runs to tell Sydney. But he stops. He decides to go through Vaughn instead.   
  
"Look at this!" he says softly, walking up to Vaughn's desk.   
  
"What is it?" Vaughn asks, looking at the papers.   
  
"This is from a computer file from that adoption agency. This is her!" Will says excitedly.  
  
Vaughn shuffles through the papers quickly.   
  
"This *is* her!" he cries. "Did you show this to Syd?"  
  
"If I had she'd be in Georgia now."  
  
"I know. I'll talk to her," Vaughn says.  
  
Will stands in silence for a moment.  
  
"I, uh, talked to Amanda this morning," he says cautiously.   
  
"Great. Seems she talked to everyone in the entire CIA except me this morning," Vaughn says sarcastically. "Sorry. She left before I got up," he reveals.  
  
"I just thought you should know I knew about it," Will says. He walks off leaving Vaughn with the papers.  
  
_____________________________________________________________________________________  
  
Okay, I admit, I really wanted to have Sydney and Will together for a while, but I *swear* this story has a life of it's own. I couldn't stop it! Besides, now I have all of you wondering about their first confrontation after Amanda's gone… 


	15. Former Contacts

Chapter 15: Former Contacts  
  
Disclaimer: No, I don't own Alias. No, I have no wise crack this time.   
  
A/N: Thanks again for all the great reviews! I love them! I think ya'll will really like this chapter, it reintroduces some characters on the show I've really neglected in this, as well as ends the one we all love to hate…  
  
_____________________________________________________________________________________  
  
Sydney sits on her couch five minutes after arriving home. She's changed into jeans and a tank top. Her hair is pulled back and held in place by a clip.   
  
She knows Vaughn was still there when she left, but he could have left soon after she did.  
  
She is nervous. She is curious to see how things have changed, how they will react to being together alone now that Amanda is no longer in the picture.  
  
She begins to pace her living room.   
  
Finally after ten minutes she hears a short knock.   
  
Sounds like he's as nervous as me, she thinks as she practically lunges for the door.   
  
"Hi," she says breathlessly.  
  
"Hi," Vaughn says nervously.   
  
She studies him closely as she steps back. Something about him is different.  
  
"What's on your mind?" she asks curiously.  
  
"I, uh, I talked to Will today. He found out some stuff about our baby," he says vaguely.   
  
"Like?" Sydney prompts impatiently.  
  
"Just some…details."  
  
"Vaughn, you still want to get her back, don't you?" Sydney asks suddenly.  
  
"Yes! Of course I do! I just don't want to tell you anything and you go running off to get her! I want to do this right, so we don't fix it where we *can't* get her, that's all."  
  
Sydney nods.  
  
"What kind of details?"  
  
He sighs loudly before answering.  
  
"Like, the couple's name. Where they live. Even what they named her."  
  
"We have to go get her!" Sydney cries. "Where is she?"  
  
"Syd, we *can't* just show up on their doorstep! We aren't supposed to be able to get this information without going through the proper channels. If we go to them, not only will we end up in jail and unable to get our daughter, but we could get Will in trouble too!"  
  
"I want my baby!" Sydney cries in a small, helpless voice before she starts to cry. She can't help it.  
  
Vaughn puts his arms around her and just holds her, standing in the middle of her living room.   
  
"Shh," he soothes. "It's okay. We'll get her. But we have to do it right. There's no other way."  
  
"I know," she sobs. "But I need my baby! I *need* her!"  
  
"We'll work it all out," he promises. "Every complication. Every stupid mistake. And we'll get our baby girls back."  
  
******************************************************************************************  
  
"Damn!" Irina curses under her breathe.  
  
By hacking into Adoption Services, Inc.'s computers system, she finds that the folder containing information on the Gordon couple has already been hacked once. Her state-of-the-art security program is useless.   
  
The CIA has gotten information she didn't want them to *again*!  
  
******************************************************************************************  
  
"Sydney, dear. I don't believe I was invited to the baby shower."  
  
The voice is almost enough to make her throw her cell at the wall, as much as it would surprise Vaughn.   
  
"You son-of-a-bitch!" she hisses into the phone. She feels Vaughn's eyes on her *now*.  
  
"I didn't discover your…condition…until after you disappeared with your mother," Sloane continues easily, as though they're old friends. "If I had, you'd never have been seen again. I'd have taken care of you *and* the child."  
  
"Leave me alone!" she shrieks. "Go to Hell!"  
  
"Watch yourself, Sydney."  
  
She screams in frustration when she hears a dial tone in her ear.  
  
"What's wrong?" Vaughn asks, putting his hands on her shoulders from behind.  
  
"Sloane!" she screams, spinning around to face him. "He threatened me, and our child!"  
  
"Syd, calm down," he says, advancing toward her slowly. He puts his hands on her shoulders again. "Now, quietly, the whole building doesn't need to know, what did he say?"  
  
Sydney breaks down and begins to cry.  
  
"He said if he'd known I was pregnant he'd have killed me and my baby!" she sobs as he holds her.  
  
"You're okay now, Syd. Calm down. You're safe now," he says softly, holding her close.  
  
"Vaughn, we'll have to stay in Georgia a while to get our baby," Sydney says softly.  
  
They're sitting on the couch, both of them content to be close to each other.  
  
"I know. I was thinking we could go out there next week." He looks at her and smiles.   
  
"Together?" she asks.  
  
"Together. It's not exactly Santa Barbara," he says, "But we won't come back with out her."  
  
"Laura?"  
  
"Laura. We won't come back without Laura."  
  
******************************************************************************************  
  
"Jack. Finished already?"  
  
Jack Bristow's eyes blaze angrily.  
  
"You promised to tell me what happened to my daughter. I'm not moving until you do. And you better be able to prove it," he growls.  
  
"Sydney's alive and well. I've told you this. Now go finish your job," Sloane orders simply.  
  
"Prove it! She's not really alive! I know that now! You might as well go right ahead and kill me, because I'm not helping you anymore!"  
  
"Jack, you wouldn't want anything to happen to Sydney or her dear child would you?" Sloane threatens.  
  
"What are you talking about you son-of-a-bitch?" Jack screams wildly.   
  
"Sydney had a child while she was…shall we say, away? Michael Vaughn's child, if I'm not mistaken. You wouldn't want her to lose that child."  
  
Minutes later, Jack is walking quickly down a busy city street. He is not sure how he escaped, or even what he did, but he knows Sloane's men will be after him soon.  
  
He spots a police station and ducks inside.  
  
"Please," he says to the young desk clerk. "I can't be seen. I need to use a phone."  
  
He catches a glimpse of him self in a small mirror. His hair is longer, and his eyes are wild.  
  
"Let me see the police chief," he instructs the man when he doesn't respond.  
  
He jumps up and disappears. Moments later, the chief walks out. Jack walks up to him quickly.  
  
"I am a former agent of the CIA," he whispers. "I'm being followed by a terrorist. I need to contact the CIA and stay out of sight until I know what they need me to do."  
  
The younger man studies Jack for a moment.  
  
"In my office," he says quickly. He points out a phone on his desk.  
  
Jack dials and rattles off an agent number when someone answers.   
  
"Let me talk to Kendall," he orders.  
  
"Jack?" Kendall says by way of a greeting.  
  
"Kendall, Sloane's after me. He says Sydney's alive and she has a child!" Jack says.  
  
"Sydney's fine, she's back here. I don't know anything about her child. Where are you?"  
  
"I don't know. Sloane made sure I didn't know. I'm in a police station right now."  
  
"I'll trace it. You stay there, I'll send some agents to get you. If I dial this number, who'll I get?"  
  
Jack looks at the small sign on the desk.  
  
"Chief Jeff Marlowe."  
  
"Okay. Stay there, Jack."  
  
_____________________________________________________________________________________  
  
SO what's up with Jack? I thought ya'll would like to hear about him, I have neglected him horribly until not. I thought it was time to rescue him… 


	16. Mission DAD

Mission DAD  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Alias.   
  
A/N: As I've run out of wisecracks for the above, it's coming to be time to draw this story to a close. It will consist of either 17 or 18 chapters, depending on how much I chose to include. _____________________________________________________________________________________  
  
Sydney gets a call at 4 am from Kendall. She should have been angered by it, but she hadn't asleep anyway.  
  
"Agent Bristow, you need to come in now," he says mysteriously.  
  
"Why?" she asks, rising from her bed and beginning to dress.  
  
"We have a lead on your father," he says crisply.  
  
In the early morning Sydney meets with a team of nine other agents, including Vaughn, for a briefing.   
  
"This morning we received a call from Jack Bristow," he says candidly. "He's currently at a police station in New Orleans. Your mission is to extract him without gaining the attention of Arvin Sloane, who is believed to be in the immediate area. Your plane leaves from the private strip in an hour."  
  
Vaughn walks beside Sydney to the plane.   
  
"What do you think's going on?" she asks softly.  
  
"This could be real. Or it could be a play by Sloane to get you again. We have to be careful," he says with concern.  
  
"I hope it's real," she says quietly, forcing her voice not to crack.  
  
"Me too, Syd," he replies, squeezing her hand gently.   
  
The plane lands, and what appear to be ten tourists in brightly colored shirts step out. They spread out in the crowded Louisiana airport. They climb into five different cars in five different locations through out the parking lot.  
  
Vaughn is sitting in the passenger seat of one of the vehicles with a pretty blonde in a yellow tank top and short blue jean shorts.   
  
"Syd, why do you always get to drive?" he asks playfully. After Zurich, he's always been weary of riding with her.  
  
"Because women are naturally better drivers," she says with a mocking arrogance.   
  
It had been decided that Sydney would be the one to go in after her father. Vaughn would wait for them in front of the door, so they could make a quick get away. The eight other agents are surrounding the station in case of a problem.  
  
When Sydney walks in, she tells the clerk she needs to see the chief about "pressing matters". When he walks out, she pulls her CIA ID out of her back pocket.  
  
"I'm here about Jack Bristow," she whispers.   
  
"In my office," he says.  
  
Jack Bristow turns around quickly when the office door opens.  
  
"Dad!" Sydney cries, throwing her arms around him.   
  
"Sydney?" The blonde baffles him at first. "Sydney! You're okay!"  
  
"Dad, we have to get out of here, now," she says regretfully, leading him to the car.  
  
They jump in and Vaughn pulls into heavy traffic quickly.   
  
"Sydney, what happened to you?" Jack asks from the back seat.  
  
"From what I know, Sloane kidnapped me, my mother kidnapped me from him, and she took my baby. Then I guess she just turned me loose. I woke up two weeks ago in Hong Kong, and I couldn't remember any of the last two years," she says, giving him a sketchy idea of what had happened and leaving out most of the past two weeks.  
  
"What about the baby?" Jack asks dazedly.   
  
"We found her, but we haven't gone any further than that yet. We're going to try to get her back," Sydney says.  
  
"Where is she?"  
  
"She was left at an adoption agency in Georgia and was adopted three months ago," Vaughn answers.   
  
******************************************************************************************  
  
Back at the CIA, Kendall paces the halls nervously awaiting the team's return.  
  
When Sydney and Vaughn walk through the door with Jack, Kendall practically pounces on them.  
  
"Jack?" he asks incredulously.  
  
"You'll have to be kept here for a while, until we're sure of what you know. My superiors insist, and frankly, I think you're safer here," Kendall rationalizes.  
  
"That's fine," Jack says shortly. He expected this.  
  
Later. After Jack has settled into his cell, Sydney comes to see him.  
  
"Hi, Dad."  
  
"Hi, Sydney." He still can't believe she's really there.  
  
"Dad, Kendall has…strongly suggested that I don't see you until you're cleared, but I thought you should know we're going after my baby next week sometime, in case I don't see you before that."  
  
"I understand, Sydney. Is there something else?" he asks suspiciously.   
  
"Actually, yeah. Vaughn's coming too." She grins at his reaction. "We're going to get our baby."  
  
_____________________________________________________________________________________  
  
I know, this is short, but may be I can get in just one more chapter than I planned… 


	17. Recovery

Recovery  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Alias. Sorry, wish I did.  
  
A/N: Another fact- This started off as the epilogue, but as I wrote it turned itself into another chapter. So it starts off a little weird, format-wise. _____________________________________________________________________________________  
  
They have a hotel room in Pavo. They silently agreed beforehand to get a room with two beds. They aren't sure what they are really ready for. The first night, they sleep in separate beds.   
  
Both of them are wondering what's in store for them when they approach the adoption agency the next morning. Neither of them knows what to expect. This is new to them.  
  
"Syd?" Vaughn finally whispers at around five am. "Are you awake?"  
  
"Yeah," she says, turning over to face him.   
  
"You haven't slept all night." It's not a question.  
  
"Neither have you," she defends. "I'm just…I don't know. We're so close to getting my…our baby, after all this time. And we're so close," she says, her tone changing slightly.   
  
"Yeah," he says softly, noticing the change.   
  
They stare at each other in the dark for a few moments.  
  
"Let's just get up," Sydney says finally, breaking the spell. "This isn't doing us any good. Surely there's somewhere we can get some decent coffee. It'll do us some good, at least." she rises from her bed and starts to dress.  
  
When they arrive at the front door of the agency, Sydney begins to look at everything as though it *can't* be real. She can't believe she's there. She can't believe that she's about to begin the process of getting back the child she's previously only seen for literally a matter of seconds.  
  
Vaughn holds onto her arm as they approach the desk inside the building.  
  
"Can I help you?" a gray-haired woman asks them.  
  
"We…Our daughter was adopted through this agency," Vaughn says with difficulty.   
  
"Yes?"  
  
"We want to get her back," Vaughn says carefully. "It was a mistake."  
  
"If she's been adopted, it could be a long process," the woman warns.  
  
"Ma'am, could we speak to the top person here?" Sydney asks with feigned patience.   
  
"Well, you could, but I'm sure I can help you…"  
  
"I'm afraid our situation is unlike anything you've dealt with before," Sydney says, a hint of sarcasm slipping into her voice.  
  
"I'll go get someone," the woman mutters reluctantly.   
  
A woman whom Sydney judges to be in her mid-thirties walks out promptly. Her lips are pursed as though she's annoyed by this interruption.   
  
"Is there a problem?" she asks briskly.  
  
"Could we perhaps talk somewhere more…private?" Sydney asks, still maintaining a tone of forced politeness.   
  
"This is going to get…complicated," Vaughn adds when the woman doesn't answer.  
  
"We'll go to my office," the woman sighs, even more reluctant than the gray-haired woman.  
  
"My name," she says, sitting behind a massive oak desk, "Is Lillian Brown. I'm very busy here, so if you would, let's make this quick."  
  
Sydney and Vaughn look at each other, silently debating who should start.  
  
"This is going to be anything but quick," he says finally. "We're going to have to ask for complete confidentiality. Nothing leaves this room unless we says so."  
  
"I can't promise that indefinitely, but I can for now," she says, eager to get this over with.  
  
"My name is Michael Vaughn," he says slowly, his eyes never leaving the woman's face. "And I'm an agent of the United States Central Intelligence Agency."  
  
They tell Lillian Brown everything. How Sydney disappeared for two years. How doctors found she'd been pregnant. How she'd had therapy to recover memories. How they'd called the agency by chance and found out that a note signed by Laura Bristow had been left. How Laura Bristow was an alias of a known terrorist. How neither of them had known the child existed until recently and they want her very much.  
  
Lillian Brown sits silently through the entire long explanation.  
  
"I'll call the adoptive parents to set up tests to prove your parenthood," she says simply.  
  
Tears run down Sydney's cheeks.  
  
"Thank you," she says softly.  
  
******************************************************************************************  
  
Bobby comes home to find Lizzy in tears.  
  
She tells him about the phone call from Lillian Brown.  
  
"It was too perfect!" Lizzy cries. "Kassie is *ours*!"  
  
"Lizzy, surely her parents can't just *show up* after over a year and reclaim their child!" Bobby exclaims.  
  
"That's what she said! She says that if these people *are* her parents, then something wasn't right about the adoption! Bobby, I can't lose Kassie!"  
  
Bobby calls the agency and is quickly told that he has no choice but to bring the child in for testing at the specified time. It will be set up so that he won't meet the people, but he has to come.  
  
He decides that Lizzy is in no condition to come, so he takes the baby alone the next morning. They prick her finger to take a blood sample. Under any other circumstances, he'd have appreciated how gentle they were with the baby. As it is, he glares at everyone with obvious contempt.   
  
******************************************************************************************  
  
Vaughn and Sydney are at the agency hours after Robert Gordon has left with the baby. They both sit nervously as the technicians take blood samples.  
  
On the way out, Sydney insists on talking to Lillian Brown.  
  
"Mrs. Brown," Sydney says, "How long will it be before the results are clear? And after that, how long before I can get my baby?"  
  
"Two or three days on the tests," Lillian Brown says, never looking up. "If they prove you're the parents, we'll have to work something out between the adoptive parents and yourselves. It's a policy that all of you have the opportunity to meet. It minimizes animosity sometimes, or at least gives the people losing the child some peace."  
  
"Thank you," Sydney mumbles, rejoining Vaughn.  
  
Both of them in need of comfort, they spend that night together. When they've heard nothing the next night, they spend it together as well.   
  
"Syd, I've missed you," Vaughn says on that second morning. He caresses her cheek gently.  
  
She reaches up and holds his hand against her face.  
  
"I've missed you too," she whispers softly.  
  
"Syd?" he says nervously. "I…I love you."  
  
She smiles widely.  
  
"I love you too, Vaughn," she says. "And this time I'm not going anywhere," she promises.  
  
******************************************************************************************  
  
"Bobby, we have to be at the agency at 6:00 this evening," Lizzy tells him sadly. "We're meeting her parents."  
  
"We'll be okay, Liz. We'll get through this," Bobby promises.  
  
The young couple walks into Lillian Brown's office to find the slightly older couple already there. Lizzy notices right away that the woman seems genuinely worried. Her eyes rest hungrily on Kassie. Lizzy hugs the baby protectively.  
  
Bobby studies the man. He sees him stand protectively behind the woman, his arm around her waist. He too watches Kassie.  
  
******************************************************************************************  
  
All Sydney can think of when Elizabeth Gordon walks into the office is, "She has my baby". Her body tenses and she feels Vaughn slip his arm around her.  
  
Lillian Brown jumps up to make introductions.   
  
"Robert and Elizabeth Gordon, this is Michael Vaughn and Sydney Bristow," she says cheerfully. She takes the baby, but she almost has to pry her from Lizzy's arms.   
  
"You're not married?" Lizzy asks sharply. Bobby puts an arm around her shoulders.  
  
Sydney shakes her head slowly.  
  
"There were…complications. We just realized there was a child," she says evasively.   
  
Bobby snorts.  
  
"How can you not know you have a kid?" he asks, looking at Sydney as if she's crazy.  
  
"We're not obligated to explain our situation," Vaughn snaps at the man. "We only want our daughter."  
  
"Kassie is ours!" Lizzy says possessively.  
  
"I didn't want to give her up! It wasn't my choice!" Sydney says loudly.  
  
"Look," Lillian says, jumping in, "I understand this is difficult, to say the least. But I can assure you, Elizabeth, if you knew the circumstances you'd understand why I can't let you keep this baby."  
  
"What are the circumstances?" Lizzy asks sarcastically.   
  
"I can't tell you. If Michael and Sydney see it fit to tell you, that's their choice," Lillian says calmly.  
  
Lizzy forces herself to calm down and think rationally.  
  
"Look, Miss Bristow, you show up after more than a year and suddenly want the child you abandoned. *My* child. Why? Surely you must understand that I can't just give up my child without knowing why," she says pleadingly.  
  
Sydney nods.  
  
"I understand. I know I have no choice but to tell you some things, but there are things even I'm not at liberty to explain. For example, I can't tell you *how* I was unaware I had a child, you'll just have to believe that I didn't know. I only found out recently, when I encountered some…problems in my life. I've always wanted a family. And I have a child. I can't live the rest of my life not knowing what happened to her. And I can't live knowing her but not being able to tell her I'm her mother. I need my baby," she concludes, her voice even more pleading than Lizzy's.   
  
Lizzy hangs her head.   
  
"Okay," she says softly, almost inaudibly.   
  
She looks up, her eyes full of tears.  
  
"But please, let us have one more day with her."  
  
Sydney nods.  
  
"Let me hold her first, just for a minute before you go," she begs.  
  
Lillian hands the squirming little girl to her mother. Sydney studies her striking green eyes. Her wispy brown hair. Her familiar smile.  
  
Too soon, Lillian takes the baby from Sydney and gives her to Lizzy.   
  
"I'll call you to arrange a meeting tomorrow," she says as Lizzy and Bobby leave.  
  
Sydney watches them leave with tears running down her cheeks. Vaughn wipes them away and holds her tenderly.  
  
"It's just one more day," he comforts. To Lillian Brown he says, "We'll want to change her name."  
  
"I'll have all the necessary papers," she promises. "Seven okay with you?"  
  
"Fine," Vaughn says, leading Sydney out of the office.  
  
"She has your eyes Vaughn," Sydney says, lying beside him in bed that night.  
  
"She has your smile," he says, moving closer to her.  
  
They are no longer upset about waiting another day for their baby. They know how hard it is for the Gordons, especially with the limited information they have.  
  
Sydney has thought of nothing but her baby all night, with the exception of one stretch of time. She remembers every detail about that small face.  
  
Vaughn remembers all of Sydney's features on the tiny face.  
  
"May be we can have a son someday," Vaughn mumbles sleepily. "So I'll have someone look like me." at first he doesn't think Sydney hears him.  
  
"That sounds like fun," she finally mumbles before they drift off.  
  
_____________________________________________________________________________________  
  
"I have made this…longer than usual because I lack the time to make it short." -Blaise Pascal  
  
This is exactly how I feel about this chapter. It would take me days to shorten it, but to do that I'd probably ruin the mood anyway. This is technically the last chapter, but there will be an epilogue! 


	18. Epilogue

Epilogue  
  
Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own it.   
  
A/N: This is a little weird, even for me, but I don't know how else to present this information, so here it is…  
  
_____________________________________________________________________________________  
  
Sydney, Vaughn, and Laura Emily Vaughn go back to LA. Sydney quits the CIA, so they agree she will keep the baby but Vaughn is welcome anytime he wants, even at night.  
  
One month after they return, Vaughn proposes to Sydney. Of course, she says yes.  
  
Not wanting to uproot their baby again, Vaughn moves into Sydney's apartment. They are visited frequently by their friends at the CIA, and they all find the family to be adorable. All of them spoil Laura terribly.  
  
Vaughn stays with the CIA, but his job becomes a mainly desk one. He's only sent out on major missions that require a senior, experienced agent.  
  
Jack Bristow, like his daughter, leaves the CIA. He devotes his time to being a loving grandfather, in a way to make up for being a lousy father. Sydney supports his efforts immensely. Besides, little Laura loves him.  
  
_____________________________________________________________________________________  
  
Yes, this is way too short, but I'm going to start posting a future fic based on this story soon, so just be patient! 


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